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ghostlyhamburger · 9 months

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Husband Watches Miraculous: NY Special

[does this one have an actual name idk]

OK this is definitely after season 3 because of the box.

Why did they do a Marvel version of the theme? you can't tell me that's not inspired by Marvel.

Okay so they store the powerups inside the thing?

They really tried to go all out with the updated animations didn't they?

Her hair is actually black this time! it looks really good.

Okay that's the first thing that I saw that's super out of character.

Some of these things are textured really well but some are just not. Look you can see texture on her clothes, on the bricks, on the ground, and then BRIGHT GREEN TRASH CAN. It just makes no sense.

This is gonna be a long hour.

Why did they increase Marinette's bust size?

What the fuck was with the way that beard was moving? It's like they didn't want to move the anchor point on the bottom. They anchored it to his shirt is how they modeled it.

Why do they keep changing Marinette's hair color? Why is it darker in the school lighting?

I think I know why this seems so hard to place in the timeline. Its production seems to start at the beginning of season 3 but they definitely got the bible. So they just didn't see all the development Marinette had in getting over her obsession with Adrien over the season.

This whole little bit about Marinette's obsession doesn't need to be here if you've seen the series. Its purpose is only for those who haven't seen the series, which is unneeded because who's gonna watch just for this? It's not a movie. if I skipped the next fifteen seconds nothing would be missed.

When has New York ever been considered romantic? I guess if they watch a lot of American Hallmark movies? But New York is dirtier and dingier than Paris.

They actually made Gabriel look good in this. Like I get how he's supposed to be a silver fox type. He's got a bit too much Justin Bieber face for me, but the hair works for him. I can see how he'd become a celebrity in Paris.

"I'll be keeping an eye on him." If Adrien was a sentimonster under his control, he wouldn't need to keep an eye on him. He could just keep track of him with the miraculous. Like, Mayura was able to track Feast.

Also why is Nathalie in the bed? didn't they fix the peacock? Oh wait she was still super weak and life force isn't easy to regenerate once it's been drained like that.

Oh they've got best girl here.

I think I already see where the entire plot of this special is going. She's gonna be upset at Chat because he's not gonna be there when a sentimonster attacks and she's gonna be upset and debate giving up her miraculous because that's been the theme of the episodes lately and the American heroes are going to somehow be bitches.

[We're only 10 minutes in.]

Gorilla doesn't like planes.

All right so it's not going to work because it's not a sentimonster alert.

How is the eagle going to help you beat Ladybug and Chat?

Marinette, just know when to stop talking, please.

Again, a nice little moment that would be really good.

5 seconds on the plane and she's basically assaulted someone.

Nice use of symmetry and mirroring each other.

Marinette is not having a good day.

Why did they give her such an ass in that shot?

That's actually a pretty good moment.

No. Alya no.

I do like how they call out their weird animation quirks of like. Marinette arms. It's fun.

A convict with a jet engine?

So normal magical and villain type things exist already.

Okay that is just Superman. That's just Superman outfit and Superman theme.

Another thing I don't like is all the infodump. There's a better way they could've introduced Uncanny Valley than Alya's random exposition. She was answering the question of the audience without being prompted to. And it throws me off.

"It's time to show these American heroes how French heroes do it!" NO. NO.

He's not a superhero. That was his entire bit. Also what's he gonna do, endanger everyone by opening up the emergency hatch? You have no superpowers, you have no gadgets, what possibly are you going to do here?

As an introduction, I like this.

It's like they wanted three teachers, one to be nice, one to be crazy, one to be strict, and then they shoved two of them into one character. It doesn't work.

Hot Dog Dan? So he's ... a hot dog vendor?

All right, the dancing is a cute little callback.

Okay I like the new animation style, the very American comic book. but can no one just leave Marinette and Adrien alone? Let them just be awkward together!

Can we get to the catastrophic failure that will lead into the less lovey-dovey shit?

So they're trying to say Lafayette was a holder?

Is that one of the self driving Tsurugi cars?

Wait we've seen the akuma butterflies phase. Why is there no consistency in the rules?

"There's artifacts left by people who unveiled the statue" So there's a miracle box there, right?

Solitude is just Mr. Pigeon!

Doc Ock. Huh. With replication abilities.

Door powers are actually pretty cool.

Now it's finally getting good! Can always count on Hawkmoth to interfere in the right way.

So why is Hawkmoth going after the sabre when the claw thing is very clearly the Miraculous?

Ahh. That's why.

They're still being quite efficient even though they're pissed at each other.

[Aeon is cataclysmed] You have a miracle bomb! It can literally reset people!

That is the smart decision. They don't know each other's identities. Also the American heroes don't have the authority to do that!

I dunno I feel like the reset should have gone through to the other area. When villains have changed in the middle of the episode the reset still works. And when there was the copycat Ladybug she used that one's lucky charm to do a reset bomb. So I call bullshit on that. Also I don't think Paris is still destroyed when we come back to it. So...

"If Uncanny Valley hadn't been a robot I would've caused irreparable harm." Except people have literally died, disintegrated into nothing, converted into energy, and brought back with no issues. So no, it's not irreparable harm. And this is so heavy handed!

The emotional flip flopping here is not great.

[hearing Liiri's ability] That's an incredibly busted ability. Her power is literally limit break.

Why are they having this argument right next to the French students? That just seems stupid.

Let's just steal a bike! oh, safety first

"Adrien I love you" Okay that's just cruel to the people who were watching this.

Yep that's actually what I was expecting.

WHY ARE THERE SO MANY GUNS? Oh right America.

I really like Jess and Aeon's characterization.

Okay I like the skateboard.

This should've just been a movie. It would've been better with time to do all the stuff going on.

Okay that's a neat little trick.

Why does this one hour episode have more musical types than the entirety of the game that came out?

[Ladybug hugs Chat] Okay that was a really cute moment.

Oh is he just gonna launch nukes at everything?

Trading cards, really?

Yeah see Paris is repaired already

"At least let me see what's inside the safe!" It's a miracle box. it's gotta be, right?

I like [Eagle's] outfit.

Was she gonna toss a piano at a pigeon? [Haven't you wanted to do that?] Yeah...

To the sun? To the sun.

Throwing things to the sun is also a Superman reference.

Why do you need more Miraculous? You only need two, and they're not going to help you, you don't have anyone to give them to!

Paris was not like that when they were visiting.

Okay. This should've just been a three part special episode. It tried to shove so much in so little timeframe and over half the thing was just pointless grandstanding about the stupid will they won't they. And I bet that while people loved that Adrien I love you moment, he couldn't fucking hear it and that's the only thing we're gonna get 'cause fuck these producers.

If the pacing was the same throughout, it would've been really good, but it came out of nowhere to the point where they turned up the speed of people speaking to fit it in. A lot of things got super rushed through and I really wanted to see more of it but I know I'm never going to because the producer of Zag sucks!

#husband watches miraculous ladybug #ghostly's husband #ny special #miraculous ladybug

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mokkamicci · 2 years

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My issues with Kuro Neko

So this post has been long overdue so I figured I finally said it. I’ve been thinking that the way Chat Noir has been treated in S4 episode Kuro Neko has been incredibly unfair. I know we are in season 5 now, but my grievances about Kuro Neko needed to be said. This is really just me ranting

I had a lot to say about Kuro Neko. The most egregious thing the narrative did in Kuro Neko was how Chat giving up his ring was framed as him being heartbroken over Ladybug.

To go into detail, the narrative uses Plagg as a mouthpiece to say that the reason Chat gave up his ring was because he was upset since he’s in love with Ladybug and not getting enough attention from her. I hated that the episode framed it as that when the real reason was because obviously he was being neglected as Ladybug’s equal and partner. Like this should be obvious right? I’m not just speaking out of my ass?

Plagg literally says it here:

(also this is from YouTube, so the captions are autogenerated)

Like I’m pretty sure Chat Noir was upset not because he’s in love with LB, but because he was being sidelined constantly and not being kept in the loop as a partner should. The fact that Alya knew more about the Miraculous at this point in S4 and about the Miracle box in general is just baffling to me. This does eventually get addressed in Strike Back where Ladybug admits to Chat Noir that she was being a bad Guardian and keeping secrets from him after having had losing all the Miraculous because of Felix.

Anyways, now Ladybug is under the impression that Chat left because of his romantic feelings towards her. So what ends up happening? Marinette has to look for another candidate to take the ring, someone that won’t be in love with her so that there won’t be any problems in their partnership. My dude, that was never the real issue to begin with. I guarantee that if Ladybug did the same neglectful bullshit that she did with Chat, with a new partner, that new guy would have the exact same complaints Chat had all along. Complaints like “why am I being pushed off to the side, why am I not being made aware of all this important Miraculous info, why is Ladybug bossing me around, instead of treating me like her equal, you know, as she should?” (But that doesn’t matter anymore because the new guy ended up being Chat in a different costume anyway. And Ladybug ended up wanting Chat back. Sooo...)

The key lesson here from Kuro Neko is that any self-respecting individual would understandably feel resentful and upset at being pushed to the side and kept out of the loop of important matters that concern them too. Not just because the individual is in love with the person who is doing the sidelining. A person is allowed to feel upset and angry if they’re being left out, especially if the information they’re being left out of is highly important to them too. And if that person is being kept in the dark, it might end up negatively affecting them.

This is what’s happening to Chat. The fact that Ladybug is not only neglecting her partnership with Chat, but also leaving out important Miraculous and Guardian-related information, information that is crucial to him as well. If Ladybug had used her Guardianship duties as an opportunity to not only become closer to Chat as partners, but also free her of the stress of dealing with it alone, we would not have the issue of Chat renouncing his ring.

This same issue occurred in the S2 episode Syren where Master Fu was still unknown to Chat but Ladybug knew of him. Ladybug was bound by Fu to keep secrets from Chat then too. When Chat found this out he threatened to renounce his ring then as well. Adrien salters will justify this as an excuse to say “no wonder Fu didn’t reveal his existence yet to Chat given how much of a hissy fit Chat threw over not being trusted with secrets that he wasn’t ready to know yet.” This is the reason salters give. Unbelievable.

So now we have Ladybug in S4 repeating Fu’s mistakes. Ladybug knew keeping secrets from Chat then was a problem so why oh why did she keep doing that in S4? Keeping secrets from your partner never ends well!

Anyways, I ended up going on a tangent here.

Here’s a TL;DR - basically Kuro Neko was not a good episode because of the narrative’s treatment of Chat Noir. They essentially treated his reasonable depression being caused by him being heartbroken over Ladybug, and not because obviously he was being neglected as Ladybug’s partner and equal.

#miraculous ladybug #ml season 4 #kuro neko #kuro neko salt #syren #ml fandom salt

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19thsentry-blog · 2 years

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Worlds Not Our Own

Miraculous Ladybug Fanfic (Established Lukanette, Feluka Friendship)

Chapters

In The Shadows | Prelude | Chp 1 | Chp 2 | Chp 3 | Chp 4 | Chp 5 | Chp 6 | Chp 7 | Chp 8 | Chp 9 | Chp 10 | Chp 11 | Chp 12 | Chp 13 | Chp 14 | Epilogue | New Beat | Timeline

Chapter One: Twilight (AO3 Link)

Chapter Snapshot

If anything, Marinette wanted to go with him, but Luka made the very appealing argument that she had done enough in the past year and deserved to put herself first for once. You know, "Take a break."

People kept telling her she needed it, and part of her wanted that too, but she started getting fidgety every time someone said the word "break" these days, like if she heard it one more damn time she'd finally snap for good and maybe actually work up the nerve to start going out swinging at that one lady in the office who kept eating the last bagel on bagel day SPECIFICALLY so Marinette couldn't have it and Marinette KNEW it was on purpose because that woman would look at her with an insipid sneer on her face because she knew EXACTLY what she was doing and--

"Man," Alix grumbled, "How are you and I the only ones with nothing better to do?" The redhead looked at Rose, who was sitting on the floor next to her in Marinette's room above her parent's bakery. Alix threaded another iridescent purple seed bead on her needle.

"I think it's fun," Rose said, perfectly chipper. "It's like arts and crafts, but we get to help Marinette at the same time!" Rose discarded a bead with a hole too small to fit the needle through and dug around the plastic case at her side for a new one.

"I really appreciate both of you being here," Marinette said for the 80th time that day. "Really, really, really appreciate it." She snatched up a pin that had fallen on the ground and stuck it on the plump red and black pin cushion strapped around her wrist. Truthfully, she wanted to pull her hair out, and with every hour that passed, Marinette had to resist the urge to do just that. At this rate, she was going to wind up bald before the tender age of 19, and then she'd have to buy wigs for the rest of her life, and while she didn't know a lot about wigs, they sounded expensive. Maybe she could go with a scarf instead. A scarf was safe, and very Parisian.

Yards of fabric in every shade of purple sat between the three of them, a disastrous pile of mauve, lilac, heliotrope, orchid, violet, and indigo--that, and hundreds of seed beads and way, way too much ambition. Someday she might call it a dress that was worthy of Miss Janine's harsh eye. Today? It was her worst nightmare. Only the top of the bodice had been adequately beaded and embroidered. The rest was a work in progress between her and her trusty assistants, Alix, who was good with attention to detail and needles when she wasn't too busy complaining, and Rose, a lover of all things DIY and crafty.

The Kwamis had long ago zonked out and retreated to the Miracle Box when they realized that the only action taking place was hours of mind-numbing beading. It was easier now that her friends knew exactly who she was--she'd been able to trust them all with a Miraculous at some point; it wasn't that big of a deal for them to know her secret identity now that the threat was over with. It's not like they would tell anyone. Of course, there was someone else who knew her secret identity that she didn't trust as far as she could throw him…but Félix technically had been a holder at one point, so somehow he also followed that rule.

Marinette held the rest of the half-sewn bodice in her hands, gently tugging the needle through to put a new bead in its place along the rib cage of the garment. Alix was the only one who hadn't actually been given a Miraculous yet, but she'd learned long ago that someday she would be. Or had those futures all been canceled out? Marinette was positive that there was supposed to be a new Hawk Moth in the future Bunnyx had come from--and technically, there had been, although Amélie was responsible for handing back the Butterfly and Peacock in the first place. Would Alix ever really hold the Rabbit Miraculous if the threat had been resolved? Or did this just mean that down the line, Marinette would wind up losing a Miraculous again? It hurt her brain to think about. Either way, Alix was an honorary holder and was already good at keeping secrets, so she was definitely in the club.

"Soooo, how are things with Harry?" Rose asked, peeking at Alix from behind the mannequin that obstructed her vision.

Alix shifted uncomfortably. "Uh. Yeah. We broke up." She stabbed her needle into her section of the skirt of the dress a little clumsily.

"What?! Why? I liked that one!"

"Aw, c'mon Ma, don't give me the third degree," Alix whined. She put the needle between her lips while she fished around for a new bead and spoke around it. "Can't we go back to overanalyzing Marinette's love life instead?"

Rose tutted. "Marinette is very happily in a relationship, and I just want to see you happy."

"I am happy--I'm perfectly happy. Marinette, tell her I'm happy."

Marinette looked to her left, giving Rose a placating smile. "She's happy! See her sitting there with, uh, happiness?" Alix tugged harshly on her needle to pull the bead taut against the skirt--a little too harshly, Marinette winced, "Alix, the dress--"

"I keep telling you, Rose, I'm not built for the whole romance shtick. It's not my thing. Don't want it, don't need it. I have you guys, okay? That's enough for me."

"Everyone deserves romance, Alix." Rose pouted, swirling her finger around hundreds of seed beads that shimmered like scales under the light.

Alix decided to have mercy on Marinette's someday-pride-and-joy, letting her hand drop in her lap. "I'm not saying I don't deserve it. I'm just built different." She sighed and rubbed a hand over her face. "Marinette, when's Luka coming back? I miss giving him shit."

Now there was a topic that put her in both a sweet and sour mood. On the sweet side, anything relating to Luka was of the good and she encouraged it. On the sour, his business currently related to him recruiting Félix to go on a wild goose chase with him halfway across the world instead of staying in Paris with her. She wasn't bitter about it. Not at all. "I'm not sure," she said, voice clipped. Now she was the one abusing her creation, stabbing the needle through the fabric as if it was Félix's big, dumb, stupid head.

She didn't miss the way Alix and Rose looked at each other. Alix cleared her throat. "Hey, uh, Mari? Everything okay over there?"

"Fine! Just fine."

Another bout of silence.

"Because if something's wrong, you know, you can tell us--"

Alix was interrupted by a knock on the attic door. Marinette gave a cursory look around the room to ensure there was hide nor hair of a Kwami visible before answering. "Come in," she said.

"It's just me," Luka's eyes appeared as he lifted the attic trap door, a slight smile on his face.

Even if she was mad at him, she couldn't ignore the butterflies that whipped up in her stomach at the sight of him. That heady, fainty feeling had begun to pass after a few months of being in a relationship, moving toward a sweet, calm sensation instead, but there were still times the butterflies came back in full force.

Rose, the closest to the little trap door, stood immediately. "Luka! We didn't think you'd be back for a while!" She hugged him, hanging off his neck with both arms. She let him go only to lead him to the center of the room where Marinette's beautiful abomination was being worked on, directing him to sit between her and Marinette.

"Negotiations went to shit?" Alix asked, leaning back on her palms.

"He'll come around. I wanted to come home in the meanwhile," he said. Luka's gaze turned to Marinette next, and it was hard to be mad when he was staring at her with that dazzling, brain-melty smile he tended to level her with. She tried to ignore it anyway, focusing on the project beneath her fingertips. The one that really, really needed to get done by this week or she'd be the embarrassment of the century. Her pride as the apprentice at Lavigne was on the line, after all.

"Nothing fun going on here anyway," she said, weaving in another bead. "Just making sure I don't get laughed out of the office."

"No one who looks at this is ever going to laugh you out of the office," Luka said affectionately. He picked up part of the hem of the dress, black-painted fingers gently running over their hours of labor.

"They will if I don't finish it in time for fashion week." Marinette turned her voice nasally, a convincing impression of Chloe, "Oh, look, there goes Marinette Dupain-Cheng, more like Marinette Dupain-lame!" Under no circumstances could she ever allow Chloe to win, even if it was the fake Chloe in her head that told her she was a loser. Besides, Ms Janine was already doing way more for her than any other apprentice, and her pride was majorly on the line here. If she made something that was worthy of her supervisor's shrewd notice, it might be on the stage of Paris's fashion week.

Marinette kind of wanted to throw up if she thought about it for too long. It's not like she expected any of the special treatment her kind-of-coworkers kept saying she was getting; if anything, her supervisor tended to give her more bullshit to handle than anyone else. She made Audrey look like child's play.

Alix snorted. "Oh, please. None of those talentless asshats have anything on you. We'll finish, right Rose?"

"Of course! Even if we have to stay up all night!"

"I mean, I wouldn't go that far--"

Marinette's lip started to wobble.

"Okay, fine, all-nighters all week, whatever you want," Alix huffed. She looked surreptitiously at Luka. "Any chance you'll take me with you?"

He chuckled. "Sorry, don't think there's any getting you out of this one."

Marinette scowled further into her dress, trying to focus on her stitching. It wasn't like she didn't understand why Luka was going to New York--she did. If Mullo's chronic sickness had been cured by some magic potion being sold off to the highest bidder, then there was a good chance that some kind of Miraculous or other power was being exploited. It wasn't like that sat right with her. If anything, she had wanted to go with him, but Luka made the very appealing argument that she had done enough in the past year and deserved to put herself first for once. You know, "Take a break."

Okay, so maybe she was a little strung up right now. Point being, work was hard to keep up with these days. Especially because Marinette's hours out of the office were consumed with the nightmare currently beneath her fingertips, all in hopes that Miss Janine would make good on her deal to let her show it on the runway and with Juleka as her model. The whole thing would be a win-win for everybody. It was just...hard to do that and still be Ladybug for Paris. She didn't want people to think that she just disappeared now that Hawk Moth was gone.

Even worse, Luka was leaving to go on his own wild goose chase, and he was taking her kind-of-nemesis with him. While she didn't love Adrien anymore, that didn't mean she automatically forgave Félix for being a jerk for seemingly no reason for all those years. Marinette had to admit that being one of the few people to know Félix's secret was a big reason she trusted him with hers; plus, she did pity him for it, and she knew he'd hate that pity. He had said a lot of awful stuff she didn't want to think about, but knowing what she knew...Marinette was mostly willing to let it lay.

She did understand why Luka wanted Félix to go with him. If his weird, creepy uncle was the one going out and selling this miracle potion stuff for whoever he worked for, it made sense for Luka to ask Félix for help tracking the guy down. Her brain understood the logic and why it was necessary; she and Luka had talked it over for months. What was really hurting was the stuff that Luka wasn't telling her. There was a moment after Emelie's funeral when Félix had rounded on them like a poison cloud, and it was obvious there was some kind of understanding between Luka and Félix that she just… didn't get, no matter how many times he tried to explain it. And, yeah, maybe she was still a bit insecure about how little she knew about Luka.

Luka had lived over 140 years. Obviously there would be things about his life he wouldn't have time to open up about to her. It wasn't like they'd been dating for all that long (and if she was honest, there had been a lot of, uh, physical intimacy that she'd been delighting in, and that took…time. Lots of time.). But still, Félix knew things about Luka that she didn't, and that just didn't sit right with her.

That, and she saw it every once and awhile, this incredibly far-off look that would draw over Luka's face, and it was like he was so far from her that she'd never catch up. Marinette fixated on that look, and part of her was just desperate to know--where did it take him? What was it like? What kinds of things was he thinking about?

"Luka, I have the worst news," Rose said, gripping Luka's arm with a newfound sense of urgency that snapped Marinette out of her very unproductive thoughts. "Alix broke up with Harry! Isn't that the saddest thing?"

"Uh--"

Alix snapped. "Rose!"

Rose snapped back. "I just want you to be happy, gosh darn it, why are you so hard headed--"

"He wasn't the guy, okay! I tried!"

Luka cut in, a likely stupid attempt to cool the fires. He wrapped an arm around Rose, half to hug her, the other half holding her back. "Rose, isn't the fun thing about stuff like that when it happens naturally? Give Alix some breathing room, okay? You can't try to force something that's not going to work."

Alix snorted. "Yeah, especially when it's not your damn love life. Keep your digits out of it. I mean it." She wagged her sewing needle in Rose's face before getting back to work.

Rose sniffed, sagging against Luka slightly. "I worry about you, Alix. It has to be lonely."

"Well, it's not." Alix stood, and several seed beads that had fallen in her lap during the past few hours clattered to the ground, skittering across the floor. "I'm getting mean. I need food." She stomped to the trap door and descended to the apartment below.

"Alix, wait!" Rose said, scrambling to escape Luka's arm and give chase.

"Maybe now's not the best ti--" Luka's words of warning were left hanging in the air, Rose having already slipped away, darting down the stairs. "I don't think that's going to end well," he said, grimacing at the open trap door.

Marinette adjusted the fabric in her lap to start on a new section. "Probably not," she agreed, trying to keep any remaining melancholy out of her voice. It didn't work. It never did.

Luka tucked her bangs behind her ear. "You're still conflicted," he said. There was no judgment in his tone, no pain. Just fact and an invitation to talk about it, even though he surely must be tired of it. She certainly was. But she hadn't been entirely honest with him all the previous times they had this discussion, which was probably why she still felt awful about it all.

Marinette bit her lip, wincing when the skin tugged a little harder than she expected. "Were you ever lonely?" she asked. The answer had to be yes, but Marinette wasn't sure how else to start the conversation. She just wanted to close the gap that seemed insistent on wedging its way between them.

His hand stroked the back of her head, but it paused for a moment. He tilted his head, dark blue hair falling slightly over his eyes. "Sometimes," Luka said. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see him reach in his pocket for a guitar pick--Luka usually fiddled with something when he was thinking, and if he didn't have an instrument in his hands, a guitar pick was usually the next thing he went for.

"Sometimes out of over 140 years is still kind of a lot, isn't it?"

His lips quirked up. "Yeah, I guess so. Although I don't think I'm the kind of person to wallow, or I try not to be. I wasn't always so great about that in the past."

Marinette wound purple thread around her finger and pulled it tight, just enough to see the skin around it turn slightly white before she let the line slack again. She remembered another time like this, when she'd felt wary of poking too far into his private life. The two of them had been sitting on top of the Eiffel Tower, utterly unaware of the other's identity, and he told her about his friend, the one he'd recorded in the Spellbook. She had been curious then, and the need to get closer to him now doubled that intensity.

"So, the times in between then, were there ever--was there ever, um," Marinette let out an exasperated sigh. This wouldn't be so hard if they'd ever broached the subject, but they hadn't. Luka never tried to hide things from her, but he usually didn't spend much time talking about himself and didn't really seem sure how to talk about his life. At least not the way Marinette did. God, she was so self-centered sometimes--it's not like she could help it. Her mouth just always wanted to fill the silence with something, whereas Luka was more content to let the silence hang around or listen to her blab on about nothing.

"What's bothering you?" he asked, sensing her hesitation.

She huffed a laugh. "Okay, I'm trying really hard to covertly ask about your exes, and it's me, so it's not going well."

"Oh," Luka sat blinking at her, a momentarily bewildered look on his face. She probably took him on a total 180 of what he thought she would say. That was another thing she tended to do, but he always recovered so fast it didn't seem like he minded when she did it. "Um, I guess…" Luka frowned, eyebrows drawing down as he thought. "There was this girl when I was maybe eight--"

"That's not what I meant!"

He laughed when she punched him lightly on the shoulder. "Well, you have to be more specific. Or less specific. Ex means everyone agreed on the relationship tag, right?"

"I refuse to believe I'm your first girlfriend since you were eight, Luka."

Luka ducked his head, looking slightly bashful. "You're the only one who's used the label before."

Marinette's heart clenched, and she knew she was being stupid. Really, really stupid. And it was an absolute relief. She wasn't dumb enough to think that he didn't have any lovers before her, and she still had plenty of questions about what Félix knew that she didn't, but she at least felt secure enough with herself to let him go.

"Alright, I believe you," she said, feeling clear-headed enough to string another bead along her line and start to sew it on. "But I want to hear more about…well, you. I want to know what your life was like in the way you know all about mine." It wasn't like she told him this stuff very eloquently, and he did have the benefit of living her life with her and seeing it firsthand, but they had to start somewhere.

And then, because she could, she tacked on, "And you better be serious about being back before this monstrosity is on the runway, or else." She didn't specify what the 'or else' was. The threat wasn't needed, but she liked keeping her options open.

Luka tucked her head under his chin, a fond smile on his face. "Done and done, I promise. Or else."

Adrien walked Julian through the next exercise on the keyboard, going slow enough that the boy next to him could follow. His glasses dipped slightly on his nose, and Julian had to lift his left hand from the keyboard to set it right again, stoic concentration unbroken on his face. It reminded Adrien of Max when he was younger, leaning over his desk in middle school to work on a robotics project hidden behind his backpack. Miss Bustier must have known that's what he was doing, but she always let him get away with it.

"Think you got it?" Adrien asked, lifting his hands off the keys slightly.

Julian nodded. "Yeah. Let me try on my own."

The tempo was slightly off, Julian's hands still uncertain when he had to pivot from his thumb, but otherwise he was doing well for his second lesson. He was already trying to self-correct when his fingers went flat, moving them back to a gently curved shape. Malo ducked his head into the practice room from the main shop, flipping a thumbs-up up and down. Adrien gave him a thumbs-up and a nod, letting him know everything was going alright. He was still just a part-time employee, but he and Julian were figuring it out together.

This was his first real job. He'd modeled for years, of course, but it was hard to consider that a job when he'd been in front of a camera since he was two. Alya and Nino had helped him with his resume when he first moved out of his father's house, and it had been a thoroughly terrifying experience. They both had plenty of suggestions, but all of them sounded like a lie because none of it seemed like an achievement. Alya eventually gave up on him having much to add and wrote it all up herself--he was the perfect person on paper. If he wanted to model, that was, and he definitely didn't.

He wasn't getting paid by the bucketful at Paradis des Cordes, but it was enough to pay Nino rent and make up for groceries with money that wasn't technically his father's (he hated using the trust fund, but it kind of had its uses, especially now). Besides, he liked the work, and the longer he stayed on as a stop-gap employee, the more it felt like it could turn into something permanent. Adrien didn't think he qualified as a proper piano teacher, but Malo was willing to give him a shot after the heartfelt letters of recommendation from his school and private piano instructors. It would be stupid of him to think that Luka didn't have some kind of hand in it, too, although they didn't talk that much. Adrien hadn't spent a lot of time with Luka and Marinette since everything happened--it was hard enough to get his head and heart to behave normally without willingly throwing himself into that sort of situation.

"There's some tension in your shoulders," Adrien said, drawing a hand to the center of Julian's back, barely pressing the tip of his pointer finger between his shoulder blades. "Try to pause and shake it off before starting again."

Julian nodded, rolling his shoulders before he started again. Adrien tried to shake off his own tension. He didn't like bringing it in here. They walked through a few more exercises until Julian's mother appeared in the doorway, knocking a few times on the archway.

"Hey bud, you ready?" She asked.

Julian's face lit up like city lights at twilight. "Yes, just a minute, Mom."

Adrien got up from the bench and walked toward the door, giving Julian time to pack up his practice books. Julian's mother adjusted the hair that sat like a crown on her head, careful not to mess with the baby hairs styled in careful swoops along her forehead and temples. "How's he coming along?" she whispered, looking around Adrien's head to catch glimpses of her son.

"Great. He's really determined--that goes a long way," Adrien said, giving her a reassuring smile.

"That's my boy," she said under her breath, a small smile on her lips as she started digging through her purse for her phone. She stopped looking when Julian came up to them. "You have fun?"

"I did," he said, taking her hand and readjusting his backpack on his left shoulder. "Can we hang out tonight?"

"Aw, baby, I have to go back to work after this," she said with a grimace. "How about tomorrow--we'll hang out and watch a movie. We can even go out to dinner." She waved at Adrien as she spun Julian around toward the door of the shop. "I heard you in there; you were doing amaaa-ha-zing!"

Adrien watched them go after waving back, head resting on the doorframe. It was the small things he missed about his parents. After his mother passed, there were only a handful of moments he could remember as positive, loving times with his dad--everything else had been sterile of any kind of familial intimacy. It was too hard to think about, to really reason through it all. Rather than move on, his father chose to live in a world where he closed his son out and lashed out at the entire city. Adrien couldn't end up like that. He wouldn't end up like that.

Staying in the past was not acceptable. Adrien would move forward, no matter how hard it hurt. Or how uncomfortable. Adrien left the room, taking a right down the hallway instead of a left to the store. He could hear Sophia up front, ringing people out behind the cash register. The door at the end of the hall was Malo's workshop, and after knocking once, Adrien stepped inside.

The room was sizeable--the right wall was fitted with shelving that slanted up, holding rows and rows of mahogany, rosewood, maple, and spruce. In the back were various power tools for cutting the lumber to size and a large glue real that looked a lot like a giant rolodex, or maybe a Ferris wheel. The rest of the space was taken up by shelving with metal clamps and wires, miscellaneous tools, and work benches. Malo looked up from the shell of the guitar he was crafting, hands carefully tracing the stencil on the wood below. "Hey, you outta here?" His voice was slightly muffled by the mask he had on.

Adrien nodded. "Yes. I just wanted to let you know it went well before I left."

Malo continued his work, long fingers dragging a drafting pencil along the wood. "Knew it would, but appreciate it all the same. Luka's rarely wrong about folks. I think you're doing well here. You like it?"

"It's fun, a lot more fun than playing alone. I think I like teaching more than I do playing."

Malo huffed a laugh. "Well, that's good. I can't keep up with the little tykes. Thought I'd pull my hair out when Jean left us. You think you'd want to start this as a full-time gig?"

The thought was a daunting one, but exciting at the same time. Adrien had lived most of his life carrying out the schedule Nathalie and his father drafted up for him--the things he wanted to do were to be squeezed in on the wayside or just discarded. There were very few big things Adrien had ever had the agency to decide for himself: 1) go to public school and 2) move out, and that was about it. Although, deciding what he would eat each day had taken more effort than he expected. But he wanted to build himself into who he wanted to be, and this seemed like a better start than he could have hoped for.

"Yeah, I think I would," he said, excitement blooming in his chest right next to fear.

"Good, 'cause I already put you on the schedule. See you tomorrow," Malo said, easy as could be, waving his pencil in the air by way of goodbye.

"See you tomorrow!" Adrien had to stop himself from skipping down the hallway like he was five.

Nino was waiting for him outside, eyes covered from the sunshine by his cap while he browsed his phone. He looked up when he heard the shop door open, a smile burgeoning on his face when he saw Adrien. "Hey dude, finally free?"

"As a bird," Adrien said, taking up a leisurely pace with Nino while they walked down the street.

"Rad, I was thinkin' we could get in some guy time, you know? Really live up to the Adrien Freedom Act of 2016. 'Cause, you know, it's weird, now that we're living together it's like we hang out less, you know? I was just telling Alya that it seems like that. I was like, man, Adrien is my best bro, and it's like--"

Adrien listened on, a slow smile working its way onto his lips. Nino was trying to give him all the space he needed to decide what he wanted to do, but it was time to get off his couch. "Nino?"

Nino's head snapped up. "Yeah man, what's up?" He swallowed, Adam's apple bobbing dramatically.

"Malo is going to start me on full-time. I think it's time I look for a real place."

Nino let out a whoosh of air, putting a hand to his chest. "Oh, man, I am stoked for you, dude. Alya's gonna flip--she's been hassling me about helping you find a place, 'cause I love you, we love you, but the whole not traumatizing my best bro with, uh, noises has been rough."

Adrien's nose scrunched up. "Thanks for thinking of me."

Nino gave his back a few hearty pats. "Anytime, bro, anytime. So--she had a few places in mind…"

Rinchen pressed against the woman in her arms with a sultry swing of her hips, their toes tapping a beat (left, right, front, don't think, only move, left, right, back). Her hair brushed against her exposed lower back, tickling like the breath of a lover on her skin. The lights in the jazz club were down low, a dark blue haze lighting up only the stage and the exits; it reflected off the large mirrors on the walls and the geometric gold paneling on the ceiling. Another couple got a little too close, running up against the two of them, brushing against sleeves and skin. No one minded—they just split back away, back to their own separate world punctuated by the saxophone and drums.

She could feel a bead of sweat work its way down her neck, trailing along the drop necklace between her collarbone. Rinchen lifted her arms, letting them sway in the air for a moment before lazily clapping and dropping them back down low on her partner's hips. She didn't know her name. She didn't need to. She needed the heady scent of vanilla and cinnamon, the slim body that fit in her arms, the freedom of her.

The woman pressed her lips on the swan curve of Rinchen's neck, covertly dragging the dull tips of her teeth along her skin. The hum of pleasure that nearly escaped her lips died when she saw the man standing at the back exit door.

Rinchen stepped back, flipping the switch back off. "I'm sorry, dove, I'm afraid my ride is here," she said, turning without looking back. The woman didn't stop her, nor did she expect her to.

Rinchen weaved through the dance floor to the back, where the non-descript, mousey man with ash brown hair waited for her. He shook out her fur coat with an overly friendly smile and held it by the shoulders, allowing her to turn and slip her arms through. She buttoned it over her purple body con dress, and the warmth of it was oppressive in the club.

"Mighty fine gal you had there. Sorry to interrupt," Ian said, opening the door for her.

Her heels clicked on the concrete as she walked to the black Honda Accord parked near the street. "You've heard back then?"

"Indeed I did. I came to get you the second I got the call."

Rinchen found that Ian worked best as an automatic door opener. He jogged slightly ahead to open the back car door for her on the driver's side. She slithered inside, adjusting her hair over her shoulder so that it didn't tug behind her back.

"I must say, I'm not quite sure what all the hubbub is about. There's not much you could find out there that you can't find right here, you know what I mean?" Ian chuckled to himself and closed her door, then got in the driver's seat. He buckled his seat belt and turned the key in the ignition, keys jangling together as he did so. "I suppose that's why you're the woman in charge, huh?"

She didn't need to answer that. Ian could be blatantly stupid, but he had his uses. She long ago suspected it was all an act, anyway. No Trajkovski could be so dull, and Ian was an excellent actor. "The boy I want--you'll have him?"

Ian pulled out of the side street and turned left with the flow of traffic. New York's skyscrapers stretched upward along the road, holding in the cars and pedestrians like a steel ribcage. "Oh, yes ma'am. The second you need him, I'll have him there. I might not even need to kidnap him this time!"

Rinchen dragged her middle finger over the length of the necklace over her chest, feeling each link in the chain. It was a light thing by design, but no matter how hard she tugged, it would never loosen from around her neck, double-stranded as it was. She had long ago grown accustomed to the feel of the choker, the way the rest draped around her neck. A beautiful leash, but a leash all the same, the owners being consigned to depths she hoped they never found their way out of.

She was free to do as she liked, but never free enough from them. Rinchen needed more.

#Worlds Not Our Own mlb #alternate universe #established lukanette #alix kubdel #rose lavillant #marinette dupain cheng #luka couffaine #adrien agreste #nino lahiffe #lukanette #Nat's Monster In The Box

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raincoveredeyes · 9 months

Text

gossip

so I never worked on my crochet yesterday. i ended up fixing my tumblr theme for this blog and my main blog. it was fun. it has been a while since i changed my theme. but because if was doing that i ended up falling asleep at four am. i'm upset with myself again. like i said i was going to prepare my body to get used to waking up early again, as i'm going to start working soon again, and yet i keep sleeping late which makes me wake up late. this is honestly so hard for me.

i spent a lot of my time on tiktok and insta again. what a waste of my time. it wasn't until like 13 that i finally got up and started with my day. i organised the kitchen and living room a bit. i didn't really clean but i put the dirty dishes in the sink and put away some of the things that needed to go back in the cabinet and what not. i finally loaded another load of laundry and managed to fold three loads of laundry. that made me feel good. i was able to do one chore that i've been postponing for a really long time. i haven't put the clothes away but i was able to do that.

i watched the miraculous movie on netflix and i have so many opinions of it. i guess overall, i did enjoy it. but there was so many things that made me cringe so badly. also i'm not really sure how i feel about how they had to change some of the characters personalities. like for example, adrien felt really mean and pessimistic, but in the show he was trying to be as positive as possible. at least i felt like he was like that in the show. idk if others feel the same or not. i like the girl who sang for marinette, she had a nice voice but her voice was so shocking to hear. the voice actress who dubbed marinette has a higher pitched voice than the singer so that was a bit jarring. i do felt the movie was rushed. and the way they ended it also didn't really satisfy me. i'm not sure how i fell about them being together. especially in the way that they found out about each others identities and what not. i wonder if they're going to make a sequel. i feel like they are cuz of the way they ended the movie with nathalie checking emelie's body in the basement(?). but yeah. and then i watched an episode (i think) of familiar wife and there were some things that made the show a bit more interesting for me. now i really feel that it's not a dragging show. i still don't like him, but i appreciate that he realised that it was because of him that she became the way she did in his past life.

afterwards i went with belle to the store to pick up some things that bass asked us to pick up for the gathering. it was fun since it was it was raining. when we finally arrived to bass' place we parked where he told us we could and belle had to parallel park. honestly that was really fun because belle had so much trouble and she didn't want to trust me about how much he could get close to the car even tho i was on the curb so i could help her better than her camera. eventually we were able to park and get to bass' place. it was my first time at his place. it was nice. very comfortable for a person to live there alone. also the bathroom was big so it would be really nice to have a cat, since the litter box can be away from the toilet. if i were to have a cat in my place it would be too cramped. that makes me sad but it also gives me a reason not to have a cat. i always needs to find reasons why i shouldn't have a cat with me. the cat that he was taking care for was sooooooooo cute. she was literally a baby. just 4 months old. she looked like a russian blue. she was so playful and curious. when i sat on the couch for the first time, she literally jumped on the couch and then came up to my face and sniffed my face. i was so happy. it made me feel special. after a while tash came later and we talked for a bit. and then not much later the alex and nad arrived. it was fun :) we gossiped a lot of people and what we think of their actions and what not. it was nice as i was able to get closer to them. i'm getting to know alex more and i find her really fun. i really enjoy being in her presence. the also kept doing the rizz face and all of us were cringing so hard. hahah it was fun. we were originally at bass' place to watch a film but we never did. we just spent the afternoon just talking and gossiping.

there was one point where we were talking about sexual harrasment and that made me really upset. i couldn't really cry which i found interesting. i eventually asked if we could change the subject but that really took a lot of me to say that. as i'm writing about this now, i want to cry. why couldn't i cry in that situation where we were actually talking about it but i can right now. idk. honestly just the thought that it has happened a really long time ago and it still affects me and holds me back from things makes me so upset with myself. like why do i have to blame myself for something that wasn't even my fault. you know even though i know it wasn't my fault it doesn't matter as i will continue to blame myself for what happened to me. i don't want to think about it anymore.

i had some tequila shots yesterday :) and it was also silver tequila!!!!!! almost no one drinks silver tequila which makes me so sad. either way we started off with orange juice with tequila. after that i had three tequila shots and then ended the night with another orange juice with tequila. i haven't drunk this much in a really long time tbh. i felt a bit guilty cuz in the end bass and i finished the bottle. it was a small bottle but still. we drank in front of belle, alex and nad who didn't drink so i felt a bit bad about that. but it was nice. it has been a really long time that i had fun drinking like that. i guess cuz usually when i drink its with friends who are drinking but are like drinking it slowly. it i guess cuz they're usually cocktails and they're usually meant to drink a bit slowly. idk i feel like just chugging a cocktail feels a bit dumb. probably because i find them so expensive so like just chugging them is not really appreciating the price of it.

when i arrived home it was pretty early. i think it was only like 22. or maybe a bit later. i did my bible reading about job and what happened to him (first two chapters). and then i tried writing here but i fell asleep. so i technically finished writing this log the next day. i fell asleep early too. i think it was around 23, which i find early.

well that's it.

bye

*ೃ༄ blue ˚◞♡ ⃗

#august 2023

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sorcerymuses · 4 years

Text

Chat Blanc and Cocimal Chapter 8: “Aftermath”

Fandom: Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir

Pairing: Adrinette (platonic)

Rating: G

Word Count: 1,646

Summary: Loose ends are closed...

More: <- Cocimal/All Links

Before she went to the Eiffel Tower, Marinette put together fake Miraculous and put the ring in a box. She took the fake earrings and traded them with her Miraculous, setting the earrings down.

"Marinette, what are you doing?" Tikki demanded.

"I'm going to put an end to this…tonight. But I need you to do something for me," she told the Kwami. "Can you take the earrings to someone we can trust? No one on the team and definitely not Master Fu…"

"How are you going to fight without the earrings though?"

"I've been studying magic, remember? I've got this," she assured her. "Just take the earrings to someone we can trust for safekeeping and after everything's done, have them bring me the earrings at the Trocadéro."

"Okay…if you're sure this will work…," Tikki mumbled.

"I'm sure, Tikki," she promised. "Now, go." Tikki nodded and flew out of her room. The next thing she did was call Gabriel to tell him the plan so he could talk to Adrien and Celeste about it. Then, she went to the hotel and went up to Chloé's room.

"Hey, Marinette," Chloé greeted. "Something up?"

"Yeah, I'm ending this tonight," she said, shutting the door. "But I need to borrow your Ladybug costume. And be ready for a media storm…"

"Marinette, you're gonna need to back up and explain what your plan is…where's Tikki?"

"No idea. I sent her off to hide the earrings," she laughed as Chloé opened her closet and pulled out the suit. As she got changed into it, Marinette explained her plan.

Tikki flew out of the room and hid under Marinette's lounge chair on the balcony. There were honestly a lot of people that Marinette would consider trustworthy, and Tikki couldn't think which one to take the earrings to. Finally, she decided to go downstairs and give the earrings to Sabine. Who better to look after Ladybug's Miraculous than her mother? The woman was in the kitchen mixing together a sauce of some kind. Tikki floated near the woman's head to see what she was making. On closer inspection, it seemed to be a bean sauce.

Knowing time was on her side, Tikki floated back to watch the woman cook. Sabine bustled around the kitchen chopping vegetables and meat, frying up eggs and tofu and the vegetables, and finally assembling all of her ingredients into skins of some kind. Tikki hadn't actually watched anyone cook in a while, so she couldn't name any of the ingredients that weren't labelled.

"Making Popiah, dear?" Tom called from the door, apparently having finished his work in the bakery.

"Yeah," Sabine laughed. Abruptly, Tom shouted and Tikki remembered what she was out in the open for. She almost dropped the earrings as she dodged a book trying to squish her. "Oh my god, how did that bug get in here?!" Tom tried to hit her again and she flew out of the way.

"Tom, Sabine," she tried gently.

"It looks more like a flying mouse," Tom griped, trying again. Tikki sighed and danced around the book. "A…bug-mouse?" That made her giggle.

"I see where she gets it from…," she laughed and Sabine shrieked.

"Bug-mouse talks!"

"Please, I'm not here to cause any trouble," she told them, setting the earrings down to yank the book from Tom's hand. She dropped the book onto the counter and went to sit beside the earrings. "I'm here on an errand." The two adults looked at her in confusion and she sighed. "Ladybug sent me."

"Why would she send a bug-mouse to us?" Sabine mumbled.

"I'm not a 'bug-mouse'. I'm a Kwami. A…familiar if you will," she explained carefully. "Ladybug asked me to bring these to someone for safe keeping," she continued, holding up the earrings. Sabine was the one to gently take the earrings from her. In the woman's hands, the spotted earrings transformed into plain pink studs.

"Wait a second, isn't this…Ladybug's…," she trailed off. "What was the word?"

"Miraculous," Tikki told her. "I don't know what she has planned, but it'll probably be on the news." Tom took her statement as a prompt and turned the TV on. Sabine pinned the earrings on and went back to cooking.

"We interrupt this program for an urgent bulletin," a reporter declared from the TV and all three of them turned their full attention to the broadcast. "We're reporting live from the studio where Hawkmoth just arrived and seems to be waiting for someone. No one inside is willing to get any closer to see what's going on. Oh, thank god, here comes Ladybug!"

"If we have her Miraculous…how is she transformed?" Tom asked, looking over at Tikki.

"I don't know her plan…," she admitted.

"Oh my god!" the reporter gasped and the camera zoomed in on Ladybug handing something to Hawkmoth. "Is that Chat Noir's ring?!"

"She was making copies of the Miraculous before she went out," Tikki defended. "I'm sure she wouldn't really take Chat Noir's ring…" Of course, she wasn't sure about that. If Marinette had gotten herself Akumatized (and it was looking like that was the case), then there was no telling how much control over her own actions she would have. The reporter started panicking and there was a commotion around her as the footage showed Ladybug removing her earrings and handing them over to Hawkmoth.

The police took control of the situation, pushing the onlookers back so they would have room to make their arrest. As the police finished loading 'Hawkmoth' into the van, an officer approached Marinette and shook her hand. She nodded to him and the officers drove away. Reporters swarmed the group of heroes again, clamouring for answers.

"One at a time, please," Marinette laughed. Nadja pushed to the front of the crowd rudely, rather than lift a hand or otherwise call attention to herself.

"How did you manage this, Ladybug?" Nadja asked and she ignored her in favour of a school mate of hers that she recognized with her hand raised patiently.

"Go ahead…Karen, right?"

"That's right," Karen laughed. "But…Nadja already asked a question…"

"Oh, she did?" Marinette quipped. "I'm not taking questions from someone that would so blatantly slander someone who's helped to save her skin multiple times from Akuma that she helped create."

"Okay…well…," Karen cleared her throat. "Did you know that Hawkmoth was Gabriel Agreste before you unmasked him just now?"

"If he were Gabriel Agreste, I would say yes," she laughed. "I knew his identity before going into this fight."

"If he's not Gabriel Agreste, then why does he look just like him?" another reporter piped in.

"It sounds like a bad soap opera answer, but he's Mr Agreste's evil twin who escaped from prison," she told them.

"And how did you accomplish this tonight?" another asked.

"There's a lot more to the answer than I'm willing to share," she sighed. "But in short, I made a plan that involved drawing his attention for an Akuma and used his own plots against him."

"So, what you're saying is that people are actually in control of their actions while Akumatized?" someone demanded.

"No," she sighed. "There's a specific process to stay in full control. I just learned how to do it. That's all I'm willing to say on that matter. And it's been a long day, so I'll be going." She finished off her drink and found a trash can for it. The reporters continued, pressing for answers, but she cast a teleportation spell and went back to the Eiffel Tower to get Chloé's trench coat.

When she had her costume covered, she went to the Trocadéro to wait as her memory spell wore off. Fortunately for her sanity, since it was dark out, she didn't have to deal with people walking around and questioning her.

"Ladybug?" a familiar voice called behind her and she turned to see her parents on the approach.

"Oh…Mr Dupain, Mme Cheng, what brings you out this late?" she asked, cursing her lack of specifics with Tikki. But at the same time, she'd been so vague about her instructions to Tikki just in case some part of her plan went sour.

"Well, we were told to come meet you to return these," Sabine said lightly, holding out the earrings.

"I have to wonder," Tom mumbled. "What made your familiar feel like we could be trusted with your Miraculous?"

"I'll tell you in private," Marinette laughed. "I can't believe Tikki would do this to me…"

"Well," Tikki said, floating into the open as Marinette put the earrings in. "You didn't give me much to go on…and I think it's high time you told them. The danger's passed now." Marinette nodded and opened a portal.

"Good point, Tikki," she sighed. "Here, a shortcut." She indicated the portal and her parents went through it. She followed them into the living room and ended the spell. While her parents processed her shortcut, she took her mask off and set it on a shelf. Her mother gasped loudly as she turned to face them.

"Marinette?!"

"You're Ladybug?" her father gasped. She nodded.

"Yeah. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you before."

The day after Hawkmoth's defeat was filled with press conferences and celebrations. Over all, the party lasted a solid week. When things finally calmed down, things went back to normal, with a few exceptions. Marinette, Chloé and Adrien kept their Miraculous. And eventually, Marinette and Adrien started dating.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous fanfiction #fanfiction #my writing #fic: chat blanc and cocimal #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #gabriel is not hawkmoth #emilie agreste has a different name #verse: cocimal et chat blanc #(Marinette) the power of love so strong 🐞

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nxrthmizu · 3 years

Text

Crash and Burn

fandom | miraculous ladybug

genre | salt, lila salt

pairing | n/a

w.c | 3.2k

author's note | hey remember that lila salt fic i promised? this isn't it but this is something i made today so yep. please accept this as an apology for yknow. me promising to write and. not doing it.

Enough was enough.

“Marinette, stop accusing Lila! She just wants to make friends!”

“Take the high road.”

“Be a good model student, Marinette.”

Enough. Was. Enough.

Marinette had the connections, the power, the choice to make Lila’s entire world crumble apart. The only thing that stood between the liar’s demise was the tiniest pinch of morality and self-restraint— And no, that self-restraint did not come in the form of Tikki. Even the kwami, who had to be an aggregation of all the good and nice things in the world, was fed up and ready to retaliate.

“What a joke.” Lila cackled, tossing a chunk of her sausage hair over her shoulder flamboyantly. The two girls were in the bathroom, with Lila smirking in front of the sink and Marinette a little distance away from her. “You can make my world crumble? What is this, a threat?”

“A promise.” Marinette corrected. “Stop telling lies. Come clean to every one. No more lying about knowing celebrities left and right, no more making excuses about not being able to take your own notes, no more making up ‘diseases’ just so your life gets a little more convenient. To be frank, I really don’t care what happens to you— But by making these empty promises to introduce my classmates to great ‘celebrities’, you’re ruining their futures. Stop.”

“And what are you going to do if I don’t?” Lila sneered, face twisted into an ugly grin. “You going to cry in front of the class? Try and convince them that I, the one they adore— That I am lying?”

“No.” Marinette’s eyes were clear when she met Lila’s. The clouds of self-doubt that used to hover over the bright, shining star inside her soul had now dissipated, letting the bluenette emit a confident, glowing appearance as she met the liar head on. “I’m just going to keep my promise.”

──────── ⋆⋅❉⋅⋆ ────────

Lila headed off to a modelling shoot after school, pleased at the prospect of spending more time with Adrien. There were a couple tendrils of Marinette’s words hanging behind in her mind— Did the girl mean what she said? Did she actually… Was she actually capable of causing Lila’s downfall? … Surely not. Marinette may have once been the ‘Everyday Ladybug’, but there was no way she was that competent, there was no way the girl was capable of plotting.

The Italian hummed, brushing away thoughts of the annoying bluenette from her mind. She was going on a photoshoot— One that was going cause the rise and burst of her career, the one that was going to make her name a globally-known one. Unfortunately for Lila, her plans were going to be derailed quite soon— In fact, as soon as Gabriel Agreste’s car rolled into the parking lot of the shoot location.

“Explain this, Mlle. Rossi.” Gabriel’s nostrils flared as he pointed to the tabloid article on his tablet. The Italian girl froze, the headlines seared into her eyes, big and black and bold, shooting poison right into the core of her body, paralysing her cell by cell starting from her heart. “What is the meaning of this?”

‘Adrien Agreste Reported To Be Harassed by Fellow Model’— The image under the caption was one that was clearly taken by a hidden photographer. The picture was framed with leafy foliage, which suggested that the camera was tucked up in a tree. Despite the distance, it was quite obvious in the image that Adrien was reeling away, disgusted and uncomfortable as a faceless woman in an orange blazer, back turned to the camera— Invaded his personal space.

The subtitle was the cream on the cupcake.

‘Witnesses State Gabriel Agreste Ignorant of Workplace Harassment’.

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As if things couldn’t quite go down a worser path, Lila returned home to a fuming mother and an unexpected visitor.

“Lila! You come here right this instant!” The diplomat demanded as soon as the front door opened, her daughter shrinking slightly at the tone and pitch that her mother was using. The last time her mother had been this angry— Well, it was when she got expelled from her last school. “I can’t believe what you’ve done! If it weren’t for your kind classmate, lord knows how long you would’ve continued with this!”

The Italian meekly followed her mother into the living room, eyes widening until they were as large as saucers, mouth agape at the last person she expected to see sitting on the couch.

Marinette smiled kindly, waving at the girl, looking every bit the part of the innocent, pure, kind child that every parent wanted to have. Before Lila could release a torrent of questions about what the hell Marinette Dupain-Cheng was doing in her living room, her mother charged on, beginning to take out her anger on her daughter while a literal angel sat on the sofa, cradling a box of pastries from her family’s bakery.

“Your friend here tells me that you’ve been taking absences from school to go on trips to help humanity!” Mme. Rossi exploded, waving her arms around madly. “She says she’s here to share her notes from the classes you’ve missed! You’ve never left Paris this year! What’s this I hear about flying off to the kingdom of— What was it called again, Marinette dear?”

“Achu.” Provided the bluenette helpfully, the diplomat’s expression instantly softening when she talked to the other teen in the living room.

“Ah, yes. Thank you, dear.” The woman turned back to her daughter, instantly snapping on a mask of anger in a matter of a fraction of a second. “What’s this about flying off to this kingdom of Achu to help homeless orphans with some random prince?”

“Um…” Lila piped up, wriggling as her brain churned at 200 lies per hour, trying to whip up a cover of some sort.

“I’m not done! Your friend here is such a helpful child that she even went as far as to ask her family doctor is there’s a cure for your… Lying disease!” Mme. Rossi practically roared, breathing flames as if she were an intimidating dragon, her daughter flinching away from the heat. “I’ve never heard of anything more ridiculous! And then there’s the fact that you lied to your classmates about having tinnitus?!”

“I actually do have tinnitus!” Lila cut in forcibly, widening her eyes to make herself look more pitiful. “I was just afraid to tell you because I didn’t want you to worry!”

“Bullshit!”

“Um… Sorry to interrupt, Mme. Rossi,” Marinette piped up, the diplomat instantly cooling down as she faced the bluenette, a soft smile tracing the Italian woman’s lips. “But it’s getting rather late and my parents would love me home soon. I also have some tests to revise for tonight, so I think I should get going.”

“Oh, of course, dear.” Mme. Rossi hastily got up to help the bluenette to the door, shooting a warning glare at her daughter— ‘Sit still and don’t you dare go anywhere’, the glare read. “Feel free to come over again anytime you want, dear. I’m not home often, but you are such a sweet child. I’m sure Lila could learn a lot from you.”

“Thanks for having me as well, Mme. Rossi. I really like your home. I left the pastries on the counter— Make sure to warm the curry puffs before you eat them.” Marinette returned the smile, bowing slightly to the older woman as a sign of respect.

“Thank you for the pastries as well, Marinette. I ought to visit your parents’ bakery sometime when I’m free.” Mme. Rossi opened the door kindly for the bluenette, waving the girl off with an affectionate smile. Her parents must be so lucky to have such a sweet little thing like her, Mme. Rossi sighed internally, turning the key so she locked the door. And she seems to be a high-scoring student as well.

──────── ⋆⋅❉⋅⋆ ────────

Lila seethed, having been grounded by her mother. As far as Mme. Rossi was concerned, there was a boarding school not too far away from their current residence, and by the next week, the Italian girl would be transferred over. Lila had never hated Dupain-Cheng as much as she did in that moment.

Still furious, the Italian snapped her laptop open, too angry to bother with the fact she might’ve scratched the surface. Clicking into the web browser, she started to type in the words ‘Ladyblog’— That was, before a news article caught her eye.

‘Jagged Stone Interview Reveals Underage, Obsessed Fan’.

What on Earth…

As soon as Lila clicked into the link, the news footage from the interview immediately begin to play. The date stamp on it showed that it had aired last night— Which meant that she would’ve missed it, since her mother was too busy yelling at her to turn on the television to watch Nadja Chamack’s daily news.

“As soon as I heard this rumour about some underage teenage girl claiming that she had saved my cat on an airport runway, I called Penny and asked her to book a slot for me to clarify this,” Jagged Stone said grimly, dressed in more formal attire as he sat in the comfortable, cushioned chair of the news station, with Nadja nodding equally seriously beside him. “Let me clarify— I’ve never owned a cat. I’m allergic to fur. The only pet I’ve had was Fang, and he’s an al-li-ga-tor. Not a cat. Whatever the girl is claiming, she’s obsessed and making up stories.”

“It’s also kind of bewildering that she saved it on an airport runway,” Nadja continued, shaking her head in disappointment. “That kind of thing only happens in dramas— It’s too dangerous for anyone besides authorised workers to be on airport runways.”

“Right, right!” Jagged agreed instantly. “The whole rumour is just really baffling.”

“M. Jagged, may I ask what kind of effect these rumours have on a celebrities’ career?” Nadja continued, leading the conversation on like a professional.

“Well, rumours that circulate around tend to have really bad effects, and the worse ones can hang around for a long, long time. Tabloids are often spun off from rumours, baseless and with no evidence. Those tabloids will never truly disappear, so they can leave a mark on a celebrity’s reputation as some people will believe anything— Even things they read from un-cited tabloids.”

“That is simply terrible. Have you ever had any cases of rumours created by underaged teens before this?”

“I’ve had quite a number, but none of them really got as big as this one. From what Penny has found from digging around, the teen girl managed to spread the rumour through her school and onto a once-popular blog.” Jagged explained. “Penny has also found out that the same girl has claimed that I’ve written songs for her to thank her for saving my cat! I would never write songs and dedicate them to an underaged girl— Trust me. If I could do such a thing, I’d already have written a dozen in honour of my niece— She’s my favourite designer.”

Nadja smiled at that sentence. “Then—“

The news footage cut off abruptly as Lila slammed her laptop shut, too upset to continue watching.

──────── ⋆⋅❉⋅⋆ ────────

On the other side of Paris, Alya was pacing around her room frantically, wondering why on earth Lila wasn’t picking up on her calls. She’d left at least four dozen messages to the Italian, who was absent from school that day. There had been a couple whispers here and there about why she was missing— Rose had suggested another impromptu trip to Achu.

Lila’s absence wasn’t the weirdest part of the day, however.

That award would go to Marinette, who walked into class with a smile, the slightest sprinkles of delight colouring her bluebell eyes when she spotted Lila’s empty seat.

Growing in frustration, Alya threw herself onto her bed, phone clattering onto the mattress with her. Within the next few minutes, however, her phone suddenly started exploding with notifications. Excited at the prospect of Lila finally texting back, Alya turned on her phone, only to be disappointed by the notifications all clamouring from the class group chat.

Kim had sent a link to the chat— Without hesitation, Alya clicked into it, frowning when she saw Nadja and Jagged appear on the screen. Throughout the interview, the colour on the Ladyblogger’s face only paled by the second until she was as white as a sheet, and if it were halloween at that time, she would’ve won the best costume award for being a ghost.

There must… There must’ve been a mistake.

A notification from Lila’s number made the blogger perk up, instantly clicking into the conversation— But her newfound hope didn’t last very long.

[Lila]

Hi, Alya. This is Lila’s mom. She’s currently grounded right now. Is there anything important you need to tell her?

[Alya]

Oh, nothing much… I just wanted to ask where she was.

[Lila]

She’s at home.

[Alya]

Okay, thanks.

Flopping onto her bed, Alya begin thinking, revising over the past few months like it was an old clip. Lila’s exciting adventures and interactions with celebrities of every kind— Lila going overseas and face timing the entire class— Lila letting her in on the secrets of being Ladybug’s friend…

… Marinette trying to tell them that Lila was lying…

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The class was awfully silent the next day. Adrien was absent as well— A social worker was looking into his home life as a result of the tabloid that arose. Things for the blonde could either get better or worse from then on, as the matters were still foggy and things hadn’t cleared up yet. The blonde maintained contact with his friends, however, calling and texting them whenever he could.

“Class, settle down.” Mlle. Bustier stepped into the class, looking very tense and uncomfortable. “Today, we will have a guest, so please be on your best behaviours, alright?”

Just as the teacher finished speaking, a tall, regal-looking Italian woman entered the classroom, a cowering principal and a meek-looking Lila in tow. The class brightened slightly at the sight of their friend— But by the way she wasn’t looking into their eyes… Things weren’t going to be good.

“Good morning. I am Mme. Rossi, Lila’s mother.” The woman begin speaking, her firm and no-nonsense tone instantly making every student sit straight, their eyes too afraid to look anywhere else but the Italian diplomat. “It has come to my attention that my daughter has been taking absences from school to do charity work— And I have to clarify that this is a lie. Lila has been doing nothing but holing herself up in her room, lying to me and saying that there are no classes due to akumas.” The Italian diplomat glowered at Damocles. “What’s even more baffling is the fact that neither her homeroom nor the principal bothered to check up with me despite a student having extended periods of absence with no note or email written whatsoever.”

The class was so quiet that they could hear the quiver of Mlle. Bustier’s trembling lip.

“In addition, I’ve been kindly told that Lila has claimed to have a lying disease, which is the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard this week.” It was impossible to miss the way the Italian diplomat was glaring daggers at both Mlle. Bustier and Damocles. “No one bothered to look it up online to see if it’s actual disorder, nor did anyone call me to confirm and ask for a doctor’s note, which is standard procedure.” Chills burst over the room, making every one shiver as the woman hissed out her words.

“Mme. Rossi, we didn’t want to disturb your busy schedule—” Damocles begin, only to be blown backwards from the sheer intensity of Mme. Rossi’s glower.

“M. Damocles, standard procedures exist for a reason. Unless you’d like to tell me about any other things you’ve been letting my daughter get away with?”

“N— No, Mme.”

The Italian diplomat continued on her war path. “My daughter also claimed to have tinnitus, am I correct?”

“Y— Yes, Mme.” Mlle. Bustier answered when it seemed like no one was going to.

“And I heard that the class seating arrangement was shifted to accommodate for that?” The homeroom teacher didn’t dare answer this time, for it seemed like whatever she said would be the incorrect answer. “And apparently, my daughter has also been faking broken wrists and requesting for her classmates to complete her work for her.” Mme. Rossi was practically breathing flames at that point, “And I am incredibly upset at the lack of action from the homeroom teacher.”

No one could breath.

“I have many concerns about the running of this schooling facility, and I expect to discuss this with M. Damocles privately after this. However, there is still something to be done.” Mme. Rossi swept her gaze towards her daughter, who found the floor incredibly interesting at that point of time. “Lila? Something you’d like to say to your classmates?”

“… I’m sorry for lying to you.” Lila mumbled resentfully.

“Louder, Lila. No one can hear you.”

“I’m sorry for lying to you!” Lila swallowed, bursting like an explosion that had finally been triggered, tears in her eyes and fists hatefully curled. “I’m sorry for lying about my diseases and injuries. I’m sorry for making you do my work,” She spat. “Sorry for causing any inconveniences.”

Mme. Rossi raised an eyebrow at her daughter. “Is that all?”

Lila glared at her mother, who was completely unfazed. “Oh, so you want an apology from me? Fine!” She turned to the class, a maniacal glint in her eyes as she sneered at the class, a few gasps puffing from around the room as they caught their first glimpse of the liar that resided in the ‘harmless’ shell of Lila Rossi. “I’m sorry that you are all such idiots that you all fell for everything. I’m sorry that Marinette has such terrible, untrusting classmates that turned their backs on her even though she was still a goody-two shoes till the end, even though she still wanted to help you sorry peasants. I’m sorry that you were all so goddamn gullible! There! Good enough for you?”

Shock was etched into the faces of every human in the classroom— Including Mlle. Bustier, M. Damocles, and Mme. Rossi themselves. Clearly, that part of the apology had not been part of the plan.

“Did I miss something?” Said a sweet voice, followed by the presence of a bluenette, her hair tied in a half-up. A royal blue blazer decorated her lithe form, accompanied by a smart-looking white blouse and a black plaited skirt. Formal had never looked so good on anyone— And if someone didn't know better, they'd think that the bluenette was a young lawyer, emerging victorious from her first successful case.

“Marinette!” Alya exclaimed.

“I’m sorry that you’re such an annoying, little, pest.” Lila bit in the girl’s face, disdain colouring her features as she ignored her mother’s enraged gasp behind her.

The bluenette simply smiled, unaffected by the liar who had crashed and burned like the liar once wished upon her. Marinette Dupain-Cheng stood at her full height, the perfect image of grace and poise as she maintained her composure, quite unlike her nemesis, who thrashed under her mother’s restraining hands.

“And I’m sorry that you didn’t take my promise to heart.”

this can count as adrien redemption depending on you cause ehhh i dont like how passive he is but i havent caught up with the recent episodes, he might have become better. idk.

also where the hell is my miraculous taglist i cant find it so eep. no tagging ppl ig oops

#miraculous ladybug #the tales of ladybug and chat noir #marinette dupain-cheng #lila rossi #lila salt #rossi salt #ml class #ml salt #ml class salt #marinette deserves better #badass marinette #lila rossi lies #lila's lies are exposed #adrien agrete #alya cesaire #cady writesss «

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twin-books · 2 years

Photo

So like I made this art because I had this idea, right? Okay, okay... I did it to try and let the idea go but it was nagging at me. But one of my friends made the mistake of freaking asking me about it, alright. I nearly wrote a whole fan fic. So here I am to share it with all of you. The only things you need to know before you read on are... There is no salt (or nothing intended to be salt) so read along happily knowing that this is salt free and just my imagination going freaking insane. Also, I really like mysteries... Like... a lot. And this only came to be because I desperately want a mystery in miraculous for no reason. Be warned the following is a bit long but hopefully worth it. Oh yeah... btw... this is an AU that I tried to keep as canonically accurate as possible but obviously not everything can be perfect (especially since I haven’t watched most of season 4 and though I am well aware of many of the big twists I haven’t seen them in action to see how they truly work), hence why it’s an AU. And it’s called Fragmented.

The story starts off one day when Adrien Agreste enters the school. He’s different. Well, no, not different... Marinette can’t explain it but there was something about his eyes. It was almost as if... there was no light in them at all. She didn’t truly suspect anything even when the next akuma attack hit. Where, through the chaos, she found Adrien Agreste frozen in shock. Though saving him was admittedly a pleasant experience she couldn’t ignore the fact that it wasn’t normal. Adrien normally fled as soon as an akuma made its presence known. Of course, that was one attack so she didn’t overthink it. Perhaps he was just taken off-guard. It was by the third attack that she started to worry. So she brought it up with Chat Noir, hoping he had noticed. “Don’t you think it’s strange?” “What’s strange, Milady?” Chat Noir asks. “How Adrien Agreste has been acting?” “How has he been acting?” “Like... like...” She hums, trying to figure out how to explain it. Eventually she finally comes up with an answer. “Like he’s rarely seen an akuma before. He just stands there, shocked. He used to just run away.” “Hmmm? Why are you paying so much attention to that pretty boy?” She blushes and clams up in response to his question which makes Chat Noir laugh, though she can detect a twinge of jealousy. “Sounds like a normal scared teenager to me, LB. Don’t worry about it too much. If he starts acting fishy... then we’ll worry, okay?” And that was the end of the discussion. Despite her gut feeling screaming at her otherwise she excused it as normal behavior and moved on. That is until she could’ve sworn she saw Aspik in the sewers. Of course she panics! Why shouldn’t she panic? How on earth did Adrien get the snake miraculous again? Was that why he’s been acting so strange? She’s the guardian! How could she let a miraculous get stolen under her watch? Chat finds her in her anxious state and places his hands on her shoulders, taking deep breaths as he did, coaxing her to follow his lead. She does and once she’s calm he asks what happened. She explains it the best she can but is shocked to learn Chat Noir has never heard of Aspik. She could have sworn she had mentioned him before. She supposed it slipped her mind. Chat suggests that maybe all her anxieties with handling her duties as a guardian are catching up to her and she only thought she saw Aspik. That makes her feel better but, of course, she’s Marinette. She needs to be sure. The first thing she does when she gets home is check the miracle box only to find the snake miraculous is still there. She then asks Sass who insists he remained in her room the entire time, as per her orders. So then... What did she see? Marinette is convinced, after a few days, that she is just paranoid. She’s overworked herself between playing guardian, playing Ladybug, and playing Marinette. She’s tired and not thinking clearly. Tikki even shares her sentiments. So her next order of business after fighting off the most recent akuma is to take some time to herself. She already made all her friends aware of her plans and after the battle was won she told Chat Noir that as well. He made a promise not to disturb her unless it was an emergency. Perhaps that is why it was so shocking that as soon as she got home, and her miraculous was on its fourth beep, Chat Noir called her. She picks up the phone expecting another one of his jokes, maybe even a prank. Instead she hears, “Remember you mentioned that snake holder the other day?” His tone is one far more serious than she is used to. She knows this is serious and that makes her nervous. “Yeah?” “Well I was out on a patrol and-” “-Patrol? Chat we just got done fighting an aku-” “-I saw him, so I chased him down an alley but he must have used Second Chance. He predicted all my moves and he got away from me. Is the snake miraculous still with you?” Ladybug is silent as she stares directly into the eyes of Sass. Chat Noir is screaming at her through the phone because she went quiet. She doesn’t notice. The only thing on her mind is the snake miraculous she now holds in her hand after pulling it from it’s drawer. “I’ll call you back.” She says, with the last beep of her miraculous. “What? Ladybu-” She detransforms and offers Tikki a macaroon. She imagines Chat Noir is not very happy with her now but that doesn’t matter. “What’s going on?” She asks, looking to Tikki and hoping for answers. “I don’t know, Marinette.” The kwami answers, as she eats her food. Marinette sighs and then looks to her Adrien pictures. “Maybe we should go to the source...” She mumbles. “Tikki! Spots on!” Once she reaches the mansion she almost presses the button at the gate to ask the secretary to let her in. But then she remembers... Ladybug doesn't need permission when the situation is dire. And it's dire. So she swings up to Adrien's room and notices him at his desk. Banging on the window grabs his attention and he quickly rushes over to let her in. "Ladybug?" As soon as he opens the window she can hear the music playing through his speakers. Adrien seems surprised but clearly not unhappy to see her. "Is there something wrong?" She doesn't answer and just looks at both his wrists. Nothing. It occurs to her that she never asked where Chat saw Aspik so she has no clue if it was even possible for Adrien to be there. So she has to ask, "Do you remember when I gave you a miraculous?" His reaction isn't a reaction she expects. There's not hint of shock, nor guilt, nor a hint of trauma. But perhaps what's most damning... "What's... a miraculous?" No recognition. Her bug phone rings at that moment. She picks it up and notices it's Chat. She sighs. Ladybug looks away from Adrien and answers it. “Is there something I can help you with?” Adrien asks but she could barely hear it over Chat Noir’s screaming and the music. "Are you okay?" Her partner cries. She smiles and nods, before realizing he can't see that. "Yeah... yeah, I guess." "You guess?" "Can I get you anything? Water?" Adrien asks, momentarily distracting her. It's then the music Adrien has playing in the background mixed with Chat Noir’s probing questions begins to drive her insane. "Could you... could you just shut the music off, please?" She asks as she assures Chat she's on the case and she'll explain everything once she has something to explain. As she finally gets Chat Noir calmed enough to joke once more she watches Adrien's hands as he turns the music off. She notices something. As she hangs up on Chat she absentmindedly speaks her thoughts. "Hey... what happened to your ring?" "My ring?" Adrien turns to look at her and she realizes she has spoken aloud. It also occurs to her that it's probably weird that she knows Adrien wears a ring. "I-I mean... uh.... I saw it... the last time I... saved you! And in your-um... Ads! Yes! Ads. I just noticed you, uh, never take it off." "Oh yeah... right... I actually don't know where it is." Adrien said, laughing, awkwardly. "I lost it a week ago and I kind of forgot about it." "Oh. I'm sorry." "No, don't be. It's just a dumb, old ring anyway. I'm not even sure why I wore it. Can't even remember where I got it." She nods in response as he laughs. What he was saying makes sense but... that ring always seemed so important to him. She just assumed it was gift from his mom. She never imagined he would be so calm about losing it. Perhaps she was wrong... "Anyway, you were asking about a... miraculous?” Ladybug suddenly remembers why she was there. "Oh yeah! Um... You... really don't know what a miraculous is?" "I'm sorry. I really don't." He blushes but she doesn't notice. She's staring through him now, trying to detect any little hint of a lie, a trick. It occurs to her that this is no longer a safe topic to discuss with him. "Heh, never mind. I must have gotten you mixed up with some other hot, blond model- Not hot! I meant um... rich. Not that you aren't hot, I mean, of course you are but I- I'm just confused." She yanks out her yo-yo and tosses it out the window hoping to escape while she still has a bit of her dignity left. "Are you sure?" Adrien asks. "Because if I can help you in anyway, I'll be happ-" "-No, really. It's fine! I'll see you, uh... the next time I save you! Yeah..." She swings off. Unbeknownst to her, under the dresser, was that very same ring Adrien seemed so nonchalant about losing. Had she been just a tad more curious, she may have noticed it. She also may have noticed that right now it looked much less like Adrien’s ring and much more like some other ring she knew of... Ladybug does eventually catch Chat Noir up on everything she knows. Since Adrien was no longer the snake wielder there was no harm in compromising his identity so she even makes him aware of the bigger picture. They agree that further investigation into Adrien Agreste is in order. Chat Noir is the one, surprisingly, who reminds her of their earlier suspicions of Gabriel Agreste being Hawkmoth. The surprising part being, he would even want to discuss it. Previously he was adamant the Agrestes had nothing to do with Hawkmoth and refused to discuss it every time she tried to bring it up... so she stopped. And then she forgot. She doesn't question it, however. Rather, she agrees it's a fair point. It means Adrien very well could be related to Hawkmoth in some way. A possibility that still did disgust her but one she could no longer ignore. A month of following Adrien Agreste around brought no leads. Every once and a while they would spot Aspik as well but they never did catch Adrien transforming into him. And every day she checked to make sure the snake miraculous was still there. She even had Luka dawn it once just to be sure she didn't somehow have a fake. She even began to suspect Sass was sneaking out while she wasn’t at home. Though, admittedly, that was mostly paranoia. Perhaps it was unfair to assume Sass would sneak off, especially since he never showed any rebellious nature before. But, by this point, she was desperate. If she hardly rested before she certainly didn't get much rest now. It was a miracle she made it through the day anymore. Her being so tired, however, could explain why she didn't notice the speeding car heading for her only to watch it be turned to dust in seconds by Chat. It could explain why she didn't notice the dust never fell. It could also explain why it didn't immediately hit her when Chat addressed her as LB when, currently, she was Marinette. But tiredness couldn't save her from noticing that it wasn't, in fact, Chat Noir who saved her. One glance into those familiar icy blue eyes, the ones that haunted her nightmares, was enough to shake her tiredness. Of course, Marinette panics seeing Chat Blanc again, especially because it doesn't make sense. Chat Noir was fine yesterday. And last she checked, they didn't start dating. So... just what could have upset Chat Noir so badly he would turn into Chat Blanc? Again? He approaches her cautiously, carefully, and creepily. She is immediately terrified and knows running won't do her much good as Marinette, seeing as he has ranged attacks. She doesn't get much time to go into full panic mode before Chat Blanc is immediately smacked in the side of the head with... his own baton? Her eyes follow the baton as it shrinks back into its owner's hand. That being... Chat Noir? "Get somewhere safe." He says, smiling. He seems to notice her reluctance and says, "Don't worry. I got this handled. Dealt with my fair share of copycats." That was a comment she would normally roll her eyes at under normal circumstances. But these weren’t normal circumstances. Regardless, she doesn't look a gift horse in the mouth and uses the opportunity to run off and transform. Returning to the scene doesn't give her anymore answers. However, she is, for once, thankful that Chat Blanc is bright white and not identical to her partner otherwise she swears she would've punched Chat Noir in the nose. "Hiya, Bugaboo! What do you think happened this time? I don't remember ticking off any buckets of white paint but I'm sure there's a first time for everything!" She doesn't acknowledge him. She can't find the humor in this situation. "His bell! The akuma, amok, or whatever it is, is in his bell!" She cries. He pauses, giving her a puzzling look, "How could you possibly know that? You just got here..." She notices Chat Blanc prepares a ranged attack and aims for Chat Noir. She doesn't have time to figure out how that could even be possible she just knows she doesn't want to lose her partner. So, for once, it is her jumping on top of him as the blast buzzes over their heads. "Chat, we don't have time for questions right now! Just trust me! Activate cataclysm! Now!" After that spectacular display, and the fact she was somehow fully aware of how their opponent worked despite only arriving moments ago, Chat Noir doesn't question it at all. He does as he is told. "I'll distract him so you can go in for the bell!" He nods slowly before he finally takes in what she has said and begins to refuse but by that point she is already facing Chat Blanc alone. She doesn't think about how this probably isn't the same Chat Blanc she knows. That doesn't even cross her mind. Perhaps it's the trauma, the longing for some reconciliation with him instead of what originally happened, that makes her so sure. Regardless, it doesn't matter. What matters is her approaching him works. Her soothing him with sweet nicknames and promises of help, works. His undivided attention is on her and she only feels remorse when she has to take advantage of those trusting eyes. "Now, Chat!" Chat Noir doesn't hesitate, not for a second. Immediately he grabs the bell and watches it crumple to dust. But nothing happens. There's no butterfly. There’s no feather. There’s only her, Chat Noir, and a pale copy of her partner. It's then, while both Chats are confused, that she takes the moment to look over Chat Blanc, finally pushing her emotions aside. And when she locks eyes with him once more, instead of trying to focus on something else, she stares into them fully. She finds that those icy blue eyes, previously lit up with sadness and anger... have no light in them at all. They’re almost exactly like... She doesn't get to finish the thought as she hears the beeping of Chat Noir's ring and watches Chat Blanc raise his hand, charging up another attack. It all happens so fast. But she's faster. One toss and one yank of her yo-yo has Chat Noir by her side. They both have the same thought, "Run." So they do. Losing Chat Blanc wasn't easy. Finding a safe spot to talk was even harder. "We have to get back out there! He could hurt more people!" Chat cries over her jumbled thoughts. "No. He wouldn't hurt anyone. Or, he doesn’t want to, at least." She says, calmly. "We have some time." "How could you possibly know that? He just tried to kill us!" “He tried to kill you, Chat. He wants to hurt you!" "What? Why?" That was her same thoughts as well. It would make sense if it was some random person akumatized into Chat Blanc but the way he had responded to her... No, it had to be her Chat Blanc. But then that doesn't make any sense! He seemed angry seeing her and Chat Noir together. Like he was jealous. It's like he thought Chat Noir was a totally different person... The beeping of Chat Noir's ring grabs her attention once more. His last pad is blinking away. Her eyes widen. "Leave! You're going to detransform!" Chat Noir refuses, much to her annoyance. Her insistence doesn't convince him and eventually it's too late. His last pad disappears... Seconds feel like hours as she stares at Chat’s ring, waiting for the flash of green. Waiting to see gloveless hands. Waiting to see Plagg appear. But one beep later and suddenly that ring is back to five paw pads as if cataclysm had never been used. "What?" She looks up as Chat Noir continuously refuses to leave. Looking into his eyes it hits her. "Get away from me!" She cries, pushing him away. "What's wrong?" "They're the same! They're all the same!" “What is?" "Your eyes! Their eyes!" She’s in hysterics now. She feels like crying. "I don't understand!" He tries to approach but she stands, defensive. "Stay away from me! I mean it!" "Milady-" "Don't call me that!" And before she knows it, she's running. She's running away from Chat Noir. But this time she doesn't know why. She wishes she knew why. Eventually she manages to lose him and summons her lucky charm. What falls into her hands is nothing but a broken mirror. That seemed absurdly unhelpful but she looks around anyway and unsurprisingly, gets no answers. The only thing she can think to do now is get to the miracle box and get some help. Any help. When she enters her room, she is surprised to find Plagg there but far too tired to react. He's holding Chat Noir's ring. He doesn't wait for her to speak, instead he gets straight to the point. "I don't know how long I've been gone but judging by your face... you met them.” He pauses, ears flat against his head, before he finally looks her in the eyes once more. “I- We need your help." (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ Done! That’s all I have for the story kind of portion at the moment. Though it’s a tad messy I hope you enjoyed it. I do know what happened and I have an idea for the solution but haven’t thought about how it will go. If you have questions I’m happy to answer them but there ya go. : ) Thanks for reading! Hope everyone is having a good morning, day, evening, afternoon, night, or whatever time it is where you are! <3

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mc-lukanette · 3 years

Text

[Part 1] [Part 2]

"Sass, scales rest."

Luka felt the de-transformation light wash over him as Sass emerged, hovering a small distance away. The battle had been easy enough, though Luka's face inadvertently implied otherwise.

The red of Ladybug's suit only reminded him of Marinette's situation - her “fate” - and he couldn't shake it no matter how hard he tried.

"Thanks for your help, Luka. I know I can always count on you," Ladybug said, holding her hand out with the tiny Miracle Box on it. She then paused, noting his expression, and questioned gently, "Is... everything okay?"

He straightened, his hand instinctively reaching for the bangle on his wrist. Stopping short, he hesitated for a moment, then sighed. "Ladybug."

She took a step closer, holding the box to her chest as she replied, "Yes?"

"Can I... talk to Sass?" he asked, then clarified, "Alone, for a while?"

The brows of her mask rose, the concern in her face doubling. Her free hand reached for him, though didn't touch him directly. "Luka, really, is something wrong?"

Luka was glad that she trusted him not to run off with the miraculous at least. Still, he struggled to explain the issue; would she even understand it?

Sass floated in front of his face, eyeing him quietly, then turned to address Ladybug's question himself. "This is a matter between snakes."

She tilted her head in confusion, looking back-and-forth between the two like she was trying to piece together what that meant. When she couldn’t seem to find an answer, she gave in and nodded her head anyway. "Um, okay. It sounds serious. I hope nothing's wrong. I'll—uh—" She looked around, then pointed to a nearby alleyway. "—go recharge and meet you back here?"

Luka nodded, then followed after Sass as he flew in the opposite direction that Ladybug was going. They went into an alleyway of their own, Luka letting out a sigh as he leaned against the wall.

"What did you see?" Sass inquired, crossing his legs and placing his paws on his knees to show that he was offering his full attention.

Luka glanced up at him, frowned, then looked down at the snake bangle and fiddled with it. "My friend... Marinette—" He made eye contact, hoping he wouldn't have to explain himself further. "Do you know her?"

"Ah." Sass gave a hint of a smile, placing a paw to his chin in thought. "Multimouse."

Completely unsuprised and thus unphased by the notion that she'd been a hero, Luka murmured, "So you've seen it. T-the..." He raised his hand to his neck, his thumb and index finger indicating what had already been burned into his memory by then. When Sass didn't respond, Luka hurriedly added, "The red string."

Sass straightened at that. "She had the string... around her neck?"

Luka nodded, grimacing at the sentence. "You didn't see it?"

"I can sense the bonds, but I can't see them," Sass explained. He uncrossed his legs, floating down towards the snake bangle. Luka raised his forearm in response, keeping it level with his chest, and Sass placed his paws on the object, turning it into its transformed state. "The miraculous has more magic in it than simply giving a kwami's power to a holder. I've been sealed in that box for so long, and it's been a very long time since I could affect anyone's fate myself; it's usually just myself and my holder until they have to give up their miraculous."

Luka held still as Sass brought himself to rest on Luka's forearm, keeping his paws on the miraculous while rubbing it in thought. Tail wrapping around Luka's arm, Sass then continued, "But the magical bond the miraculous creates gives my holder power from being connected to me. You see fate because you can interact with the world around you."

"And... Marinette?" Luka urged. "Can I help her?"

Sass took his paws away from the miraculous, settling for lounging on his arms and staring up at Luka thoughtfully. "You said... her neck?"

Luka nodded urgently.

"Ah, she's a victim of the kind of fate no one would want," Sass observed neutrally, though Luka got the feeling that he was hiding concern from him. "Do you remember what I said about her luck?"

"You think that has something to do with this...?" Luka asked, gaping in disbelief. Marinette having terrible luck was bad enough, but this—

"It's possible." Sass pressed his cheek to Luka's skin, never breaking eye contact with him. "Or it could be that the universe has done this for the sake of the one on the other end."

"The other—" Luka felt a spike of irritation, his free hand tightening into a fist "You mean this is all for Adrien? What about her?"

Sass' expression soured at the mention of Adrien. "It's what destiny has already decided for her. It wants everything to happen in a certain way, punishing those it's against and favoring those it prefers."

"Against? Prefers?" Luka hissed, raising his voice at the implications. "So it's tripping Marinette - choking her - for its own sick games? Because Marinette is so talented and amazing that they—they—"

He looked away, idly searching the sky for specks of black and purple while forcing himself to calm down. Running a hand across his face, he took a deep breath through his nose and let it out through his mouth.

"Can I help her?" he repeated as he looked back at Sass. Gesturing desperately with his free hand, he begged, "There has to be a way, Sass, please."

"Snakes choose their own fate, and they have the power to change the fate of others," Sass reminded him, then paused for effect before continuing, "but they can't change everything. It depends on them, the person who has the fate, and what the snake is willing to do."

Luka opened his mouth, ready to say he'd do anything, but noticed that Sass seemed to have more to say. He at least got the feeling that Sass already knew anyway.

Sass offered an approving smile, confirming Luka's feeling, then gave him a brief once-over. Humming with intrigue, he met Luka's gaze with an evaluation of, "If it's you, I won't worry about her."

"Huh? What—"

"Luka?"

Ladybug came to stand at the entrance of the alleyway, backlit by the light behind her. She walked forward, biting her lip for a moment before saying, "Sorry, I was waiting but I got anxious—not that I thought you'd go anywhere, but—" She wrung her hands together, brows furrowed with concern. "—you were taking a while..."

Luka glanced at Sass for an acceptable response, but Sass didn't reply to her. Instead, he uncurled his tail from Luka's arm, floating up to be level with his face and giving him a reassuring nod. Luka wasn't exactly convinced of anything certain, but looking between Ladybug and Sass, he knew he couldn't delay things forever to ask every question he had.

He wasn't sure he wanted the answer to some of them anyway.

Closing his eyes, Luka gripped the miraculous and pulled it off, only opening his eyes again when Sass was back inside. Ladybug approached, a little awkward but nevertheless taking the miraculous from him and returning it to the little box. She then searched his eyes, unsure, but asked, "Was there something wrong with me giving you the miraculous? If it's a problem, I—"

"No," Luka said firmly, bringing one hand underneath hers and the other on the box on top. "It's not that. I'm grateful, if anything. It's..." He sighed. "...someone I'm worried about."

"Really?" She seemed hesitant to prod. "Who...?"

"...Marinette," he answered automatically, his hands dropping back to his side as he ducked his head. "She's going through a lot, and I—I just want to be there for her."

He missed the slight gape Ladybug gave, along with her blush. He was too busy staring at the ground, at a complete loss for what to do; Sass had given him answers, but not a lot of advice, and the idea of seeing that tightening string again tore him up inside.

He only became aware of Ladybug’s presence again when she stepped towards him and placed her hands on his cheeks, gently encouraging him to look at her. Blue eyes met blue as she whispered affectionately, "I'm sure she knows that, and I'd bet both of my earrings that she appreciates it. If you're even half of the person you are as a hero, she's lucky to have you."

Lucky. The word brought a sense of numbness with it, but there was something familiar about Ladybug that made him accept it for now, enough for his shoulders to relax as he was pulled back to reality.

He didn't have a plan, but he was a Couffaine, and he wasn't going to give up that easily; not when Marinette didn't give up on him either when his music had been stolen. She was worth all the support he could offer her and so much more.

#au: Dread String of Fate #Dread String of Fate: writing #Flower Arrangement Shipping #Pro LukaMari #Lukanette #((Was going to wait to post this but I have no patience.))#((So you're welcome I guess??))

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immaturityofthomasastruc · 3 years

Text

IOTA Reviews: Wishmaker

Goddamn it...

It's bad enough Astruc tastelessly axed Lukanette, but now he just had to show up to give a sarcastic eulogy at the funeral.

Let's get into the fourteenth (chronologically the eighteenth) episode of Miraculous Ladybug's fourth season: Wishmaker

Right out of the gate, we get a “Chloe bad” joke with her insulting Marinette for being poor or whatever as she hands out flyers for an upcoming career fair. Chloe doesn't have much of a role in the episode, but she will be important towards the end, trust me. We also get a funny “Marinette stares lovingly at Adrien” joke while she sees him, so it's good the writers are at least trying to get their strange habits out of their systems now instead of later.

While reading over the flyer in his room, Adrien ponders a possible career as he doesn't want to keep being a model.

(The episode came out in English first, so I'm just going to be using quotes instead of screenshots of subbed scenes for this review)

Plagg: Don't you wanna continue to model?

Adrien: I don't think so, Plagg. I'm doing it now because my father asked me to. But now I realize I don't know what I'd want to do. I've never asked myself that question.

This is a really interesting dilemma for Adrien. Unlike other episodes that just have him feel sad for entirely superfluous reasons like Ladybug turning him down or generally moping about his mom, it feels like something you can really understand. He genuinely isn't sure what he wants to do with his life because he's had everything chosen for him before. I also like the use of the English dub saying Adrien modeled because his father asked him to, as if he couldn't actually say no. I also like how Adrien is still starting to lose faith in Ladybug for giving out Miraculous to everyone, which makes even more sense after his view of her was shaken in the previous episode chronologically, “Rocketear”. I also like how Plagg suggests ideas for a career for Adrien, like the two of them opening up a cheese shop together, which shows how Plagg cares for Adrien and wants what's best for him, ultimately highlighting how healthy their relationship is. He's almost like a big brother who gives advice to Adrien, even if it isn't the most sound advice at times.

On the other hand, Marinette already knows what she wants to do with her life, but the Kwamis start to argue over what she actually means by it by saying they know what she wants to do, a painfully accurate metaphor for the writers dictating Marinette's actions no matter how inconsistent they are.

Pollen: What's a career, dear Guardian?

Marinette: Oh. Well, it's... your job! Something really important that you do and gives meaning to your life!

Roaar: Oh! So, your job is being the Guardian of the Miraculous!

Mullo: Of course not! It's being a student!

Xuppu: Not at all! It's making presents for Adrien!

Marinette:Well...

Longg: She said “something important”, like when she crafted the big doll house to hide the Miracle Box!

Wayzz: Or when she designed the alarm for this room! What a masterpiece!

Marinette: Sure, I love crafting but—

Ziggy: You guys don't get it! What gives meaning to her life is to be in love with Adrien, or Luka, that's her job!

Fluff: Luka's the one with the guitar, right?

Kaalki: Her real career is being Ladybug and carve her name in history by her glorious deeds, of course!

Of course, their bickering somehow makes Marinette realize she isn't sure what she wants to do in the future after all.

We then cut to a reality show hosted by TV personality, Alec Cataldi. He's generally an asshole to the people on the shows he hosts and takes pleasure in humiliating or just being a dick to them, making you wonder how he still gets work with that attitude. Basically, he's the Alec Baldwin of the Miraculous Ladybug universe. The current show he's hosting is one where he roasts people for their jobs, making Andre a target by pointing how counterproductive his “business” is.

Alec: Here's a perfect example: Andre, the Ice Cream Maker, the ice cream man that is never around! Let me remind you how this goes: Andre doesn't have a shop, no one knows where he is, it takes forever to find him, and he gets to pick a flavor of your ice cream! You've gotta be kidding, Andre! Give me one reason why I should bother to chase after you when I could get my choice of ice cream in any corner supermarket!

Andre: Well, people don't just come for ice cream when they find me. They come to share their love and experience of magical moments! A supermarket cannot do what I do! I am a creator of magical moments!

Alec: “Creator of magical moments?” You've gotta be kidding!

I'm pretty sure that's what a lot of people thought of Andre when they first saw “Glaciator”. The idea behind Andre is that he chooses ice cream for you representing something about yourself, so he gives Alec a scoop of lime to represent his sour exterior and chocolate cinnamon to represent the dreams he still has within. Alec flinches a little at the ice cream, presumably because of how terrible of a combination that is, and decides to go to commercial to think.

Marinette talks to Andre about what he does, and he explains he used to be an office worker, with the only highlight of his days being making ice cream for himself after work. It eventually inspired him to quit his job and start making ice cream for everyone. It's a nice backstory, and I think a lot of people watching who are struggling to think about their future can relate to this like with the earlier scene with Adrien. It's also a nice touch for the flashbacks to reveal Andre has served ice cream to some of France's most famous couples.

(Jean Coutau and Jean Marais)

(Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin)

(Marion Cotillard and Guillaume Canet)

Granted, I'm wondering how old Andre is to have even met some of these people given Jean Cocteau died in 1963, but seeing how Master Fu is 186, I'm guessing the Miraculous Ladybug universe just has really good healthcare. Either that, or the people in this universe take Jay Kordich's diet very seriously.

Andre gives some ice cream to Marinette, who is soon joined by her ex-boyfriend who she never loved according to the writers. Actually, judging from her face when Luka talks about the very first guitar he made, the writers made another 180 regarding Marinette's feelings for Luka.

Of course, because the show wants to remind the audience Alec still exists, he makes fun of Luka for taking two years to perfect the delicate craftsmanship it takes to sculpt any instrument when you can just download an app on your phone. Your inner boomer is showing, writers, even if you were born after the time period for that generation. Luka retorts with some vague philosophical line he's known for that's one of the reasons why people are so mixed on him as a character

Luka: Musical instruments fill the space and space fills the instruments. No phone in the world will ever be able to do that.

Despite it being incredibly confusing, it gets to Alec, causing him to run off in tears. Luka and Marinette continue to talk, but it turns out that's Adrien decided to sit down nearby because of course he did. Though, like the last scene, it's a pretty interesting one as the three discuss what they want to do with their lives. There's also a really nice visual of a blimp with an ad Adrien was in passing by while Adrien talks about his father dictating his life, a really nice symbol. Of course, the scene is somewhat ruined by Luka suddenly deciding to be an Adrienette shipper.

Luka: You two will eventually find what's already in front of you, but you can't hear it clearly. Just let the melody flow.

He's referring to their uncertainty of their futures, but earlier on, Luka wanted to help Marinette be honest with her feelings about Adrien, and even before that, Andre was saying that Marinette and Luka didn't have to be in love to enjoy his magic ice cream. It's here when I realized this episode is subtly trying to end any chances of Lukanette still happening with so many little details. Right when the two spend time together, that's when they decided to help Adrien who showed up for no reason, preventing them from potentially coming to terms with their feelings for each other or at the very least discuss how hard it is to be friends with their history. And things only get more frustrating towards the end, where you'd swear someone decided to smother Lukanette with a pillow in its sleep.

Back to Alec, he's roasting a wig salesman (does he even have permission to film any of these people?) for his job, but as soon as the salesman puts a wig on him, Alec immediately gives us his life story.

Alec: When I was a kid, I used to have long hair, but everyone made fun of me. That's why I shaved it all off. I've been making the wrong choices my whole life. My TV shows are nothing personal. I make fun of people when they make fun of me when I was a kid. (Starts to tear up) I should've been the person I always wanted to be, trying to change the world instead of mocking it! (Falls on his knees) I've wasted my life!

I didn't paraphrase this at all. This is seriously what happened. He goes from mocking everyone he meets, to slightly doubting himself after seeing an ice cream vendor and a young musician, and then he starts having an existential crisis about his tragic backstory. It's not a bad idea, but if there was some more buildup in previous episodes, I'd understand. But this goes from confusing to straight out insulting towards the end. I'll get to that later on.

Shadowmoth notices Alec's emotions and akumatizes him into Wishmaker through his microphone.

Wishmaker has a pretty cool design. The grey skin color coupled with the mostly black outfit really highlights Alec's broken heart, and he looks pretty sinister. His powers... leave a lot to be desired. Like the name states, Wishmaker has the power to make everyone's childhood dreams come true, like this one guy's dream is to be Santa Claus, so he transforms into Saint Nick without any hitch. Wouldn't it make more sense if Wishmaker twisted the dreams of his victims like a genie and made them miserable while they ironically lived out their fantasies by twisting around their words? Instead, all of his “victims” seem pretty happy, which doesn't really do much to make him a threat in my opinion.

So the aforementioned Santa starts dropping presents like bombs near Marinette, Adrien, and Luka, and they're separated by a giant robot. Marinette quickly transforms into Ladybug, and gets Luka to safety, though as soon as she leaves, Luka goes to check on where he told Marinette to stay for safety, and doesn't see her there. Instead, he sees his deadbeat father (transformed into a crocodile) drowning and goes to save him.

Ladybug meets up with Cat Noir (who transformed off-screen) and the two easily incapacitate the robot before engaging Wishmaker, avoiding his blasts. Apparently, they'll get their secret identities revealed if they get hit, so Ladybug goes to get Luka to help out as Viperion while Cat Noir holds off Wishmaker. Ladybug goes to get Luka, leading to the funniest joke in the episode.

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She gives Luka the Snake Miraculous and he transforms into Viperion, immediately activating his Second Chance. For newcomers, Second Chance allows the user to set a point in time when activating it and if something goes wrong, they can go back to that checkpoint in up to five minutes. Ladybug also summons her Lucky Charm, a stuffed dinosaur toy.

Back with Cat Noir, as he engages Wishmaker, the Akuma starts to tempt him with the idea of living out his childhood dream, because he genuinely doesn't remember his. As Shadowmoth orders Wishmaker to use his powers on Cat Noir, Ladybug and Viperion show up, but in the chaos of the fight, Ladybug gets hit by Wishmaker, revealing her childhood dream as the “Knitting Fairy”, and exposes her identity to Viperion, who uses Second Chance to undo the timeline.

In the new timeline, Cat Noir's vulnerability gets to him, so he willingly lets himself get his by Wishmaker, not only exposing his identity as Adrien, but tragically reveals his childhood dream, to be whatever his parents wanted him to be. I feel like this works a lot better than some of the other moments where Cat Noir defied orders or screwed around on the battlefield because it's clearly framed as a moment of weakness on his part, and it was naturally built up over the course of the episode. The reveal of Adrien's childhood dream is a real gut punch too, as it shows just how much Adrien's life has been controlled by his family.

In the third timeline, Viperon deflects Wishmaker's blast meant for Cat Noir and redirects it toward a man whose childhood dream was to become a giant stuffed dinosaur. The stuffed dinosaur in question goes to give Wishmaker a hug, restraining him long enough for Ladybug to steal for Cat Noir to cataclysm (It's a microphone, how hard is it to break???) before she de-evilizes the Akuma. Ladybug uses Miraculous Ladybug to force everyone to stop living out their childhood dreams, she gives Alec a Magical Charm, and Luka decides not to tell Ladybug he knows both her and Cat Noir's secret identities. Why did Ladybug expect Luka not to know her identity when the whole reason she recruited him was to make sure nobody else found out her identity?

Now, while it isn't outright said, it's hinted at that now that Luka knows Marinette is Ladybug and Adrien is Cat Noir, judging from his dejected look after finding out the latter, he may be giving up on all attempts at the idea of getting back together with Marinette, and may or may not start shipping the Love Square now, just like how Kagami decided to ship Adrienette in “Mr. Pigeon 72”. I'm not saying the idea of Luka knowing someone's identity is bad, but it feels like this only happened specifically to stop him from having feelings for Marinette because now he knows Adrien loves her alter ego, and vice versa. Maybe it'll be touched upon in a later episode, but this was just a dick move by the writers in terms of ending all chances of Lukanette like this in order to ensure the Love Square has absolutely no competition.

So the episode ends with Marinette and Adrien deciding to focus on their futures while Alec starts a new show where he helps people live out their childhood dreams, albeit dressed like Style Queen for some reason.

Eh, he still picked a pretty cool Akuma to dress up as in my opinion. A lot of people have viewed this ending as evidence Alec is a drag queen with how he dressed up, coupled with the fact that he said something that was very similar to famous drag queen RuPaul.

Alec: And now, we're gonna love one another, starting with everyone loving themselves! Because how are you gonna love other people if you don't love yourself?

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Though Astruc, being Astruc, once again decided to be vague when asked about the subject on Twitter, though at least the subtext is better than when he said he didn't make Juleka and Rose girlfriends because of censors while making it seem like a noble act.

Overall, this was a really good episode, though there were some underlying issues that really kept me from actually liking it. For the most part, it had some good drama with the main character, a rare scene where Marinette didn't stammer around Adrien, a creative (albeit flawed) Akuma with some good action, and an interesting idea with Luka knowing everything about the Love Square now.

There are just two big problems that really got to me about this episode. Let's get the obvious one out of the way, Luka. Honestly, he really didn't need to be in the episode. Sure, he gave some sound advice to Marinette and Adrien about their careers, but it felt kind of strange to see someone their age talking to them about their future when Andre, someone who actually had experience struggling to figure out what he wanted to do with his life, was pushed to the side. And like I said earlier, I think the only reason Luka found out about Marinette and Adrien's identities was to discourage him from thinking about getting back together with Marinette. After all, now that he realizes how “made for each other” they are, he can't stand in the way of the Love Square.

The problem is that in the context of the episode, we don't really see what made him see things that way. At least in “Mr. Pigeon 72”, Kagami consistently viewed Marinette's attempts to get her and Adrien back together as a subconscious desire to be with Adrien. It was dumb with how she decided to go to Team Adrienette at the end of the episode, but it was something. I'm glad the episode didn't force in too many Love Square shenanigans, but I think more should have been done to contextualize Luka's feelings towards the reveal. I get the writers wanted to make sure Lukanette had no chance of coming back, but this just feels rushed.

And then there's Alec's redemption arc. While it's not a bad idea in concept, the problem is that it flies in the fact of a recurring theme this season, that being redemption. Because, here's the funny thing: Alec blatantly said he became an asshole TV personality because of his history of bullying, and decided to retaliate as a result, but he eventually saw the error of his ways and turned over a new leaf. For long time readers of this blog, I apologize for bringing this up yet again, but what exactly makes this different from everything Astruc said about Chloe? You know, when he said that you make your formative choices when you're fourteen? Just like how Alec decided to become a reality TV host making fun of people after a troubling experience from when he was a kid?

Let's say that I agree with Astruc's views about Chloe. How is Alec different from what Astruc's said about Chloe for almost two years at this point? What makes Chloe, someone who was the victim of a troubled childhood who never got help, an irredeemable monster while Alec, someone who also had a troubled childhood and had even more time to get help while never getting any, capable of change? I thought he Alec made a formative choice when he was young and stuck with it, just like how Chloe started to fully develop at the age of fourteen. I mean, Astruc, you yourself said that Chloe's troubled childhood “was no excuse to treat people like shit”, according to you.

I'm just saying, dude, if Chloe can't be redeemed because of the stuff you yourself said, then that shouldn't apply to Alec either. When you really think about it, it's almost like Astruc either made up a bunch of excuses to not redeem Chloe, or he's a massive hypocrite for going back on his word. You can't really justify this kind of hypocrisy relating to Alec's redemption when you remember just how much of a hardass Astruc was when explaining why redemption was impossible for Chloe.

This coupled with the treatment of Luka really drags this episode from really good to blatantly insulting to certain viewers. Then again, these two choices just got to me personally. I feel like if those two things weren't there, things could have made this episode a lot better for me personally. I can see why a lot of people in the fandom still like this episode, but I'm honestly not a fan of it.

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miraculouslycool · 2 years

Note

Marinette may not have created the power imbalance dynamic between her and Chat Noir, but by blindly continuing Fu’s path, she is perpetuating it. Granted, she hasn’t had the space to breathe, much less ponder whether Guardian rules should change, but she has been willing to stand up (to Su Han) when she sees a change is needed. She hasn’t seen a need to change the fact that she holds all the cards and Chat works with whatever she chooses to let him know, and this is backed up when she (part 1)

At the very least, I appreciate very much that you are willing to talk about Marinette's faults on her end as they are, character flaws. Looking at them as technicalities of her character is a better way of discussing this whole thing and her mindset instead of using it as ways to villainise her, so thank you for phrasing it well.

Even through all the times I defended Marinette the past two days, I still am aware of how imperfectly she's handling it on her end, and what you said about Chat sticking around makes sense. She thinks he's okay with the minimum of what Fu did in Syren so she doesn't question it as much as she should.

Among the secrets Marinette has kept from Chat this season, the ones that were wrong to keep on her end were:

not informing him about Scarabella (to be clear I'm not talking about her telling Chat about revealing her identity to Alya in Gang of Secrets, that was a personal decision of Marinette's at the time but around the time the circumstances of Hack San rolled around Chat should've been made aware of it, but she was short on time and thought Alya's word would've been enough for Chat)

Not telling him about Rena Furtive

Not letting him know about Su Han's demands in Ephemeral

Wouldn't really call this a secret but there wasn't enough explanation on her end about her calling on different heroes several times, Chat was taken aback by Rena and Carapace's presence more than once, and that inadvertently led to him thinking he wasn't enough for the battle.

Among the things she hasn't told him that he should know but I don't blame Marinette for not telling him are:

Chat Blanc, for obvious reasons

Alya and Nino knowing each others identities, because Nino gave Adrien an unreliable account of what really happened

So all of these secrets on Marinette's end have been piling up so much to the extent that if it was revealed to Adrien now, a calm conversation would not fix things.

It involves a lot of change on both their ends, Marinette learning to not get caught up in her responsibilities and Adrien learning to be brave enough to speak up about feeling unwanted and useless but also being treated unfairly.

(I'm not entirely sure if I agree about the Su Han thing though? The two times she stood up to him were in Furious Fu when she fought to keep the box and in Ephemeral when he suggested replacing Adrien with a Chat Noir they could control. She still is avoiding telling him about Alya knowing her identity and giving her a miraculous permanently and her being their spy. I don't think Marinette is treating Su Han the way she treated Fu, she didn't really disagree with Fu's decisions, except in Feast - and is also continuing some of his methods unintentionally - but she's been resisting Su Han in the two episodes he appeared and also hasn't made him aware of huge decisions she made. I'd say she's treating him like a fellow guardian but not particularly as someone who is in a position of authority over her.)

I wouldn't refute any of what I said above but you know what I've seen people shitting on Marinette say? They say to see her as a character who is "written badly" and not as a real person, so there's no reason to be THAT defensive, if we really liked her we'd want better for her. It's funny that they should say that and not look at any of what's happening as conflict/rising action, so that the story can literally move forward.

"Marinette's fictional", they say, but they can't stand that her actions are helping a fictional plot progress.

#thanks for approaching this peacefully and practically anon #it was good to talk about this without having to worry about the unfair and ridiculous amount of hatred Marinette has been recieving #ml fandom salt #marinette critique #ml spoilers #asks

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strawberrystar7 · 3 years

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I think People misunderstood Chloé's arc and the season 3 finale (and especially Chloé's role in it.). And here is why I think that.

This is a really long post and I know it's hard to keep reading something as long as this but please, I ask you, either do not read it at all if you don't want to read something like this or read it completely. If you do decide to read this but stop in the middle because you want to comment on something I ask you to not do that. Please read all of it thoroughly. If you want to comment on something, take notes but don't post it before having read all, because if you do not read all you probably won't understand it correctly. Additionally, some things might have been answered later on in the post.

I think the true lesson the writers wanted to give with Chloé's arc and especially the Season 3 finale is that it's good to be forgiving and give second or maybe even 3rd chances but you shouldn't try and help someone who doesn't want to change. There was a time where she maybe wanted to change... I put the maybe there on purpose. This is because if I look at Chloé's behavior it isn't entirely clear if she ever wanted to change because she wants to help others or if she just wanted to "change" so she can have the Bee Miraculous.

Chloé's arc in actuality was a treason arc. It wasn't a redemption arc. On the surface it may have looked like one but if you look deeper I think you'll see the signs.

I know I am gonna get hate for saying the next bit but if you look closely (and I mean very closely) at Chloé's actions then you'll see what I mean. In season 1 Chloe was a stereotypical bully. In season 2 she actually got a backstory, explaining her actions. It basically made her look more like a real person. But even so her actions didn't really change. She stayed a bully. On surface level her actions did change a little, but on a lower level they didn't.

What do I mean with that? Take Despair Bear as an example she threw a party and invitated all her classmates. In itself that's a nice action but do you remember the reason why she threw the party? Adrien threatened to break up their friendship if she wasn't nicer to people. So her Butler Jean gave her the idea with the party and that she should be nice.

Yeah, I know this happened before the Queen's Battle trilogy (I know it's actually just a 2 part episode (Style Queen and Queen Wasp) but I count Malediktator as a 3rd part because it pretty much is a direct follow up to Queen Wasp.) but this is supposed to serve as an example for Chloé's behavior in season 2.

Now look at Zombizou. Chloé gave Miss Bustier a present the day after her birthday. Do you remember why this happened? Marinette called Chloé out for not having brought one and pretty much embarrassed her infront of the class (I know the way she called her out was mean but that's not the point here). In the end Chloé most likely would never have brought a gift if this didn't happen.

I think this Episode also came before the Queens Battle trilogy but I'm not sure. Anyway even if it was before, it still shows how Chloé behaves most of the time when she does good things.

Now let's look at the Queen's Battle trilogy. In the Style Queen episode we see for the first time how Audrey treats Chloé and while it does explain why Chloé does what she does it doesn't mean her actions are excusable. It makes her actions understandable to the viewers and it makes her, as already mentioned, look more like an actual human being. In that episode we do not really see any more about Chloé and her past or actions besides her finding the Box with the Bee Miraculous.

After that Queen Wasp follows. In this episode the first scene where Chloe plays a rather major role is the scene with Gabriel Agreste, Audrey Bourgeois, André Bourgeois, Tom Dupain, Sabine Cheng, Adrien Agreste, Marinette Dupain-Cheng and of course Chloé Bourgeois. In this scene we see Audrey taking Marinette's feather hat after it rolls infront of her. She inspects it and remarks that it isn't Gabriel's. She then asks if Marinette is responsible for the hat, which Marinette replies to with her having created the hat. You know the rest Gabriel admits she won a fashion contest, Audrey remarks the hat is "exceptional", and then she asks Marinette if she wants to go to New York. That is where Chloé comes in, claiming to never having been in New York. She also asked why she was taking Marinette. Audrey replies with Marinette being "exceptional". Chloé then says that she's "exceptional" too. Audrey then says the following "The only exeptionial thing about you, my dear... is your mother.". I think you know the rest André tries to step in but is interrupted by Chloé who transforms into Queen Bee infront of everyone to proof that she is exceptional.

This wasn't simply to prove her mother wrong tho. She did it to prove to everyone that she's exceptional and her behaviors later on that episode prove that exact point. Queen Bee then disappears.

The others go home and Queen Bee looks around the city to see if there's anything she can do but doesn't find anyone who needs saving. She then thinks of that plan with the train and calls Nadja Chamak to gain publicity for her heroic deeds. As already mentioned this pretty much proves my point. If she really jzst wanted to prove Audrey wrong then why call in one of Paris's star reporters?

After the call she heads towards the metro. She runs on the side of the metro and enters the driver's room. She then Calls out her venom and numbs the driver. The metro speeds up and Queen Bee turns on the metro TV saying she'll save them (this pretty much was to gain even more publicity). Queen Bee isn't able to stop the metro and Ladybug and Cat Noir come in to help stop the metro. Ladybug calls Chloé out for numbing the train driver and Nadja Chamak comes with Audrey Bourgeois on a live call. Audrey then says the following "What? Regarding my daughter's ineptitude? I think it speaks for itself, doesn't it?". Ladybug asks Chloé to give the Miraculous back but Chloé keeps it and runs away with it. Queen Bee then gets akumatized before she transforms back causing her to turn in Queen Wasp. I don't think it's important to mention what happened while she was Queen Wasp because in this case she wasn't willingly akumatized just like Antibug which also means she wasn't herself unlike Chameleon and Miracle Queen who both were willingly akumatized and both kinda knew what happened while they were akumatized.).

When she gets deakumatized Marinette later comes in and tries to help fix Chloé's and Audrey's relationship (atleast as much as it can be fixed) by pretty much insulting both of them and saying "You're also wrong about your daughter not being exceptional. In fact, Chloé is exceptionally mean. She's the worst person I've ever met. She may be more heinous, pompous and selfish than you. Compared to both of you, even a rock seems more capable of love.". Chloé and Audrey then pretty much shout at the same time "How dare you⁈". They then see they do have a lot in common. The episode then pretty much ends after 2 more short scenes (both scenes do not have anything to do with Chloé so I don't think they are important.).

Now let's look at Malediktator. The episode starts with Chloé's documentary about Queen Bee where Chloé-Bee and Chloé-Bug (I'm gonna call her that because that's Chloé with a Queen Bee costume and Chloé with a Ladybug costume) talk about how great of a superhero Queen Bee is. Then it zooms out to reveal that the documentary is watched by Chloé's classmates.

Ivan then points out that isn't Ladybug. Chloé says it is Ladybug and Miss Bustier asks why Chloé did the assignment about herself.

Chloé then says they were supposed to choose an important person in French history. Chloé-Bug talks more about Queen Bee. Alya then points out that's Chloé with a Ladybug costume. This discussion goes on for a bit until Chloé leaves.

Chloé and Audrey then storm in to André's office while a pair is getting married. They force them out and Audrey tells André to close the school while Chloé tells him to ban Marinette and her family.

Audrey then says the following "That monster hurt your little girl’s feelings.". Chloé adds "She got the whole class to gang up on me. They all have to pay.". You probably know the rest. André says he can't do that and Chloé and Audrey leave him alone in his office and say they'll leave for New York. Chloé is then in the Bourgeois suite packing (or more like telling her Butler to pack for her.) André comes in to argue with Chloé and Audrey to stay in Versailles or near Paris.

Hawk Moth akumatizes André after Audrey and Chloé leave with the helicopter.

Chloé flies over the school with her helicopter, throwing flyers showing Chloé in front of the statue of liberty and saying she'll leave for New York. The students celebrate after Chloé leaves.

Malediktator stops the helicopter and says he has the power to close the school and banish the students who were mean to her. He then commands Audrey to be devoted to him and stay in Paris. Chloé runs away/hides. Some time passes and Ladybug goes to Chloé asking her why Malediktator is mad.

Chloé doesn't want to say at first and blames Marinette, then saying André got mad all by himself but then she admits to being the cause of her fathers akumatization.

Then this happens:

Ladybug: Because of what happened in school? I'm sure Marinette probably didn't exactly mean what she said.

Chloé: Oh, it's not just her— actually, I don't even care about her— it's because I have no reason to be here: nobody likes me; I have no friends. I'm… useless.

Ladybug: (remembering what Adrien told Marinette earlier at school about Chloé) A friend once told me: nobody is useless, Chloé.

Chloé: It's easy for you to say that. You're Ladybug, a superhero. You serve a purpose.

Ladybug: Yes, I can fix up all the messes. You said it yourself in your documentary.

Chloé: (gasps) You saw it?!

Ladybug: (nods) Mm-hmm.

Chloé: Oh! I'm so embarrassed. That film's ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous. I realize that now.

Ladybug: Don't worry Chloé. You can fix your own messes, if that's what you want. You, too, can serve a purpose, but you have to want to.

Chloé: (sniffles) I do want to.

Ladybug: Chloé Bourgeois, (holds out the Miraculous box) here is the Bee Miraculous, which grants you the power to immobilize your opponent. You will use it for the greater good.

(Chloé hesitates; Ladybug nods approvingly; Chloé takes the box and opens it; a yellow ball of light flies around her and Pollen appears.)

Pollen: At your service, my Queen.

Ladybug: Once the job is complete, you will return the Miraculous to me. Can I trust you, Chloé?

Chloé: (puts the haircomb in her hair) I won't disappoint you this time, Ladybug.

Then Chloé transforms into Queen Bee.

Queen Bee and Ladybug (with the help of Cat!Cat Noir) defeat Malediktator.

Then this happens:

Ladybug: Yep, you missed Queen Bee and Ladybug saving Paris, for real this time.

Queen Bee: I understand, Ladybug. Buzz off. (transforms back into Chloé)

Chloé: (gives back her Miraculous) Being a superhero isn't only about fixing messes. (Ladybug holds up her hand in a fist; Chloé gasps and smiles)

Chloé and Ladybug: (fist-bump) Pound it!

After that Chloé and her family leave.

Then this happens:

Chloé: It's okay, Jean-Yves; I'll take care of it.

Butler Jean: Mademoiselle, are you sure?

Chloé: Yes, I need to do it myself.

Marinette: Chloé?

Chloé: (gasps) Dupain-Cheng?

After that Marinette brings Chloé to the school showing her they threw a party for her. That's pretty much how the episode ends.

I guess this is the episode (Malediktator) that convinced everyone Chloé was changing (and maybe at this point in time she truly did want to change. But I'll explain later on in the text why it did not work out.). After all it literally showed scenes where Chloé was nice without her benefitting from it. And honestly the earlier episodes did not show that Chloé was going to change. The earlier episodes gave depth to her character and kinda explained her actions but they didn't really make her look like she wanted to change. The end of the Malediktator episode tho? It did look like she wanted to change or atleast it made it seem like that. But as I implied Chloé's arc is way more complicated than you think. It can't be just written of as bad or inconsistent writing. Read more and you'll see exactly why this isn't just inconsistent/bad writing.

I don't think we saw much of Chloé in the season 2 finale besides her appearance as Queen Bee again. But honestly I do not remember much about the season 2 finale anyway.

Now let's look at season 3. (I just remembered I forgot about Animaestro. I forgot where in the season that happened but I just put it in the beginning because I feel like it would ruin the flow of the text.) In Animaestro Chloé literally teams up with Marinette to ruin Kagami's day (This was just to show that Chloé still did stuff like in season 1). Anyway, not only is it pretty clear that Chloé would love to be Queen Bee again but she also probably would do anything to be Queen Bee again. So she constantly asks for her Miraculous (seen in Startrain and other episodes) or she pretty much shows everyone how proud she is of being Queen Bee, seeking attention for that (Maledikator). In Miraculer Chloé waits to get her Miraculous but doesn't get it. Then Lila tells Chloé about a fake dance which summons Ladybug. Chloé gets really angry when the dance failed and then lashes out at Sabrina telling her she doesn't want to play with her. Chloé then breaks down after not getting the Miraculous for some time, resulting into the scene where Chloé resists getting akumatized. Instead, Sabrina is the one getting akumatized. Some time later a cataclysmed Cat Noir tries to give Chloé the Miraculous but because of his cataclysmed rips he ends up loosing the Miraculous to Mayura.

You probably know the rest. Rena Rouge makes a Chloé illusion in Ladybug's place, Ladybug gets her powers back, Chloé makes Miraculer even angrier, Ladybug (with the help of Cat Noir, Rena Rouge, Carapace) gets the Bee Miraculous back and gives it to Chloé. Chloé follows Mayura but looses her. After the fight Ladybug talks to Chloé.

This happens:

Queen Bee: Ladybug. Mayura got away from me. I'm sorry, utterly sorry.

Ladybug: That's okay, Queen Bee. We'll get her next time. (reaches hand out for the Bee Miraculous)

Queen Bee: If you'd given it to me earlier, we'd probably would've defeated Hawk Moth.

Ladybug: I'm sorry, Chloé. I should've told you this a long time ago. I might never be able to let you be Queen Bee again.

Queen Bee: What? But I did everything you asked me to.

Ladybug: I know. But this is for your own safety. It's too dangerous for you and your loved ones because Hawk Moth knows that you're Queen Bee.

Queen Bee: Buzz off. (turns back into Chloé and gives Miraculous to Ladybug)

Chloé: I understand. But I'm sure that you'll need me again, Ladybug. I know that I'll be Queen Bee again someday. I will always be Queen Bee.

Ladybug: (notices her Miraculous beeping) Thank you, Chloé. Let's go. (takes off with Rena Rouge and Carapace)

Despite saying that Chloé said she understood she can't have the Miraculous anymore she did not understand.

I know one of the arguments people have was that if Ladybug stayed longer to explain more thoroughly Chloé would have understood. But what do you want Ladybug to do? Risk her identity? She was on her last 5 minutes. Probably less considering how a couple minutes probably flew by from the moment she called out her lucky charm to the moment she called out Miraculous Ladybug. So probably 2 or 3 minutes were already gone from her timer. Additionally, she still needs atleast a minute to not risk her identity getting revealed while she takes Rena Rouge's and Carapace's Miraculous. There was no more time to spare. Despite that I don't really think Chloé would have understood even if Ladybug had more than 2 minutes to spare. Not with how self-centered she is.

Well there had been some smaller incidents with Chloé treating people badly (Animaestro fo example) but that aside those were small moments. I think the next big Chloé moment would pretty much be Heart Hunter and Miracle Queen. Heart Hunter proved that Chloé did not learn from what Ladybug said. She still waited on her rooftop with her Bee signal for Ladybug to come and give her the Miraculous. In the end of the episode we see her so angry at Ladybug for not giving her the Miraculous that she willingly worked with Hawk Moth and actively forcing her will onto Pollen.

This is what happens:

Hawk Moth: (puts up his hand and interrupts) You're right, but I did it for one reason only. So that you would finally realize that Ladybug will never give you the Bee Miraculous again. I, however, always keep my promises. (shows her the Bee Miraculous in his hand)

Chloé: This isn't real! How do you have it?

Hawk Moth: Try it and see for yourself. You're Ladybug's greatest fan. You've helped her, you've trusted her, and what has she done for you in return?

Chloé: (gets angry) Nothing! She couldn't care less about me! I'm done with her. She's irrelevant, utterly irrelevant! (reaches out to grap the Miraculous, stops) I want you to deakumatize has my parents first!

Hawk Moth: Whatever you say, my queen. (Chloé takes the comb and puts it in her hair, releasing Pollen)

Pollen: (urgently) Your majesty, wait!-

Chloé: Silence! You will speak only when spoken to. Your loss, Ladybug. Pollen, buzz on! (transforms into Queen Bee)

She then gets willingly akumatized.

In Miracle Queen we then see her actively work for Hawk Moth, even revealing all the Miraculous Holders. After she gets deakumatized she seems to still have her memory, considering how she wasn't disoriented like every other Akuma Victim. She even jumps after another Akuma.

Chloé also does and says the following "I'm not on your side anymore! How many times have I asked to fight alongside you? And how many times have you refused to give me back my Miraculous? How many, huh? Hawk Moth isn't my enemy, he's yours! And the Miracle Box is mine! (Queen Bee slams down the Miracle Box, and opening it, starts putting on all of the Miraculouses)".

This pretty much proves my point further. Chloé never let go of the Bee Miraculous, thinking it was her own and she had every right to obtain it whenever she wants. The fact that she's only concerned about getting the Miraculous even proves further that she doesn't really care about helping others. All she cares about is her self and as established before this had always been the case. Even in the Queen's Battle trilogy.

Think about it. Chloé is so deadset on keeping the Bee Miraculous that she would do anything. And if I say anything I mean anything. She literally worked with Hawk Moth to get the Miraculous. So if getting the Miraculous and all the attention that comes with it means that she has to help others she'd gladly do it. If helping others means she gets attention she'd gladly do it. We've seen it in Despair Bear and other episodes. Ladybug used to be Chloé's idol so to get her attention she pushed the mind controlled Cat Noir away. To get Adrien's attention she threw the party and was nice to the others. But the moment people didn't look she acted mean. This isn't even the only season 2 or 3 episode this happened. It is totally in character for Chloé to have reacted the way she did in the season 3 finale. Just because she turned bad again doesn't mean she's a 2 dimensional character. She still has the same backstory and all as she had before. The only difference here is that she openly worked with Hawk Moth. So why is she suddenly a horribly written character? Just because she worked with Hawk Moth?

Well let me tell you something: Just look at her relationship with her father. He never denied her anything. He always did everything she wanted. She would throw a tantrum if she doesn't get what she wants. So don't you think it's totally in character for Chloé to react the way she did when Ladybug refused to give her the Miraculous? It's the equivalent to the tantrum of a spoiled rich girl (or boy) would throw if they don't get what they want. The only difference here being that a magical terrorist pretty much took advantage of that tantrum.

As you can see the way she acted was not out of character. It was completely in character for Chloé. In fact, it was so in character that if we've taken the time to truly look at her then we all would have seen it. I gotta admit, I myself got completely deceived the first time I watched Malediktator and Miraculer. I myself thought, maybe she could change (and I still think so). The first time I watched Heart Hunter and Miracle Queen I also thought it was bad writing and I also hated that finale. I thought they did her dirty. I literally blamed the writers like all the others and stated on YouTube how bad of a Episode that was. But now? Now that I actually took the time to rewatch the Episodes (not just the finale but generally any episode) over and over again just to see all the small details people talked about that I never noticed, I noticed those details about Chloé that I didn't before.

People always claim the finale is horrible because they made Chloé out of character... but... In fact, the Season 3 finale is actually good. It may have some plot holes because the writing of the show honestly sometimes isn't the best. There's some episodes that are badly written and have loads of plot holes. But the season 3 finale? It might just be one of the better written episodes. And that only because of the fact that they sticked to how a girl like Chloé would actually react to getting told off like that. And I know for a fact that girls as spoiled as Chloé would react like that because I met a fair share of people like that. They all threw a huge tantrum when they got told off.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying Chloé doesn't have the potential to change. Infact, she definitely has the potential to change. But not like this. Chloé needs to hit rock bottom before she can actually change. And no, getting told you can't have the Bee Miraculous anymore is not rock bottom. The first thing that needs to happen is for her father to stand up to her. And as seen in (⚠️Season 4 Spoiler warning⚠️) Queen Banana André finally did stand up to Chloé. If he keeps that up that might be good start (⚠️End of Spoiler⚠️). After Chloé doesn't get everything she wants from her father anymore there's two things that can happen: Either she becomes a complete lost cause and doesn't learn anything from it or rather she doesn't want to learn or she learns that not everything will always go her way and that she can't have everything (specifically the Bee Miraculous, as you can't buy it.). This also might cause her to become less selfish and start thinking more about the others. Even if that doesn't happen maybe Zoé (because she's Chloé's half sister) or Adrien (because he is/was Chloé's childhood best friend and would love to help her) could come in to help Chloé become less selfish. But again for that to happen Chloé first needs to learn that not everything goes how she wants it and she can't have everything. And again this won't happen if everything is handed to her like it has been all these years.

Please understand that I am not hating on Chloé. Chloé may even be one of my favorite characters for the exact reasons I mentioned here. Because even tho she's a stereotypical bully she has depth to her character. And if she'll ever truly change she'd might just become one of the more relatable characters in the show.

And I know I am none of the writers so I do not know what they thought while writing the finale and the rest of Chloé's arc but to me this seems like the most logical explanation. I do not think the writers hate Chloé. That just makes no sense. They have developed her past and backstory and stuff like that way too much for them to hate her. If they truly hated her I don't even think they would have developed her character like that. If they truly hated her they would have left her like Lila with little to no information about her past or basically anything that explains her actions.

So please, I ask you please do not harass the writers for their decisions. Just please for once try to understand their thought process. Maybe you just didn't truly understand what they meant because as I explained Chloé's arc was deceiving. On the surface it looked like a redemption arc but truly it wasn't.

I am not claiming to have fully understood what the writers where trying to say but I do think I got close to what they were trying to say. I am also very sorry if I might have not been able to explain some of the points well. While I did rewatch every episode while writing this I did not want to put in every single episode (which might have gotten my points across even better) as the post has already gotten way too long. Not many people like to read much so probably only a few will even have read this completely. But to those who did take the time to read it all, thank you for having taken the time. I'd really like to hear your opinion on my take on this topic. Because while I do think this might be somewhat close to what the writers where trying to do it most likely isn't exactly what they wanted. I'd really like to hear your opinion on my take on this topic. Because as I said while I do think this might be somewhat close to what the writers where trying to do it most likely isn't exactly what they wanted. Maybe some of you have something to debunk or maybe even strengthen my points. Both is fine as long as everyone's nice towards each other. I do not want to see some kind of war. So please be kind towards each other.

#miraculous #miraculous ladybug #miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir #chloé bourgeois #heart hunter #miracle queen #mlb fandom #miraculous analysis #mlb #mlb analysis #chloe salt #mlb season 3 #miraculous season 3 #miraculous season 2 #malediktator #queen wasp #style queen

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themaribatpit · 3 years

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Jasonette July Day 4: Game On

Written by: The Maribat Pit @jasonette-july-event Prompt: Game On Rated: T (for sexual references, mostly references to things that happened in the comics. You have been warned.) “I can’t just go spilling my protégé’s secrets. I can barely send her out into the mean streets on her own.” she said with a coy show of innocence that she wasn’t even trying to make believable.

“I’m not asking for her identity, all that concerns me is why you decided to take her in.” Batman explained.

“She was in trouble, I was in the neighbourhood and I gave her a helping hand,” she explained. “That special claw of hers comes in handy, and besides we all know how you feel about magic users Bruce.” She wasn’t wrong about that. Batman could never trust Constantine further than he could throw him. He could only bring himself to turn to Zatanna when he really needed her help. Shazam was an exception, seeing as the limits of his magic were clear and simple enough to understand. That didn’t make him any less formidable, but it didn’t make him quite as unpredictable. He was, at the end of the day, a detective who was trained to think rationally and logically in order to get to the bottom of a situation. Magic was the ultimate wild card, and the sooner he figured out this girl’s abilities, the better. “You’ll be pleased to know she’s not a completely hopeless case, she’s been helpful but she doesn’t get quite the same thrill out of thievery.” Catwoman remarked, “but it’s been lovely having her around, and I’m not about to just hand her over to you”.

“Then what would you have me do?” he asked, “I’m concerned your rivals might be a little less forgiving.”

“Is that so? You don’t think she’s strong enough to save herself?” Catwoman smiled, it was nice to know that he cared, just a little. “Besides, she’s already had years of experience under her belt, maybe you’re just jealous you didn’t find her first.” She taunted playfully. Goodness knows he was in no position to talk when it came to taking people under his wing. “Tell you what, how about we have a friendly little wager?” Bruce saw her eyes light up at the thought, but he was undeniably curious about what she had in mind.

“What do you propose?” he asked.

“A fun little game, your boys against my little foundling. If any of them can take her down, then you can welcome her into your family with open arms” she explained.

“How do I know she won’t just kill them?” Batman asked, it wouldn’t be the first time Bruce had to try and steer someone away from any homicidal tendencies.

“She’s a lot of things, but let’s just say killing wasn’t really an option for her back in the day.” she explained, “She’ll fall in line with your ‘no killing’ rule quite nicely. Think about it, your sons versus my little girl.” Her claws skated across Batman’s shoulders as he pondered this.

“Anything else?” Batman asked, he had to know exactly what they were walking into.

“Your boys can bring a second to their little duels, but only one. No need to have the Titans ganging up on her.” she explained. She left out the part about her protégé having other tricks up her sleeve. With the power she had, they would be lucky to get a single scratch on her.

“So be it then.” Bruce said, it would be an opportunity to see how this girl measured up against the boys he had trained. At that moment Catwoman decided it was game on.

Marinette had just come home from her classes at Gotham University, and she was looking forward to a quiet night working on some designs that were due a few weeks. A text message from Catwoman brought her plans to a grinding halt:

“Mari dear, made a little wager with Batman. You beat his four sons in a fight, and you get to stay with me. If you lose however, he gets to take you under his wing (in every sense of the word). They’ll be on the lookout for Lady Noire in the next few days, but I never said anything about only using her to win.”

Marinette was really starting to regret being saved by Catwoman. That night, she was outnumbered by some muggers who thought she would be an easy target. She was trying to find an opening, to make a break for it, maybe find somewhere to hide and transform if she really must. Suddenly she heard a voice grab their attention, “I’ve always loved big strong men who aren’t afraid to show it with someone half their size.” she purred. While they were distracted, Marinette decided to call on Plagg for some help. She always loved how the Lady Noire suit made her movements feel lighter, plus the night vision and Cataclysm were useful too. Unfortunately for her, it meant that Catwoman saw her in action and decided to take an interest in her from that day forth. Sure, she was a cunning thief and there was little that Marinette could do to stop her. At the same time, Marinette was a young woman in a city that was the polar opposite of what she knew in Paris. She couldn’t deny that there was something comforting about having someone in this city looking out for her. Especially since her parents were in Paris, and Master Fu was no longer around to help her. She took the Miraculous with her to Gotham City, but none of the other wielders came with her. She was still their guardian after all, but she had to be more careful about using them. She wasn’t about to single handedly take on superpowered crime lords with their armies of henchmen. She had to be a lot more careful with her powers since other people could get hurt. Besides, they already had a small group of vigilantes keeping the city safe, they didn’t need her.

Marinette reread the text message over and over again. she was about to see what these vigilantes were made of, though it was just as accurate to say it was the other way around. She opened the box, carefully choosing which ones she could use in a fight. She usually used Lady Noire when she was with Catwoman, but by the sound of it she was counting on her to use all of her tricks to win.

Damian never fully understood his father’s attachment to Catwoman, but this was a challenge he could not refuse. They were told to keep an eye out for this “Lady Noire” character while they were out on patrol. Oracle had agreed to referee this ordeal, Damian was absolutely certain he was going to be the one to bring her in. They were allowed to bring a second, but Damian didn’t think it would be necessary. From what they were told she was a smaller Catwoman, though they were told to exercise caution because of her destructive abilities. The last person Damian had expected to find was a girl in a red and black body suit, who looked nothing like the girl with long hair and green eyes that Batman had described. Still, there was something odd about the girl and Damian moved in closer to investigate.

Catwoman had given Marinette a vague rundown of who her opponents were. There was Nightwing, the eldest of the four boys and a trained acrobat. The second eldest was the infamous Red Hood, Marinette had heard rumours about him and she had no way of knowing if the Kwamis could guard her against someone who uses firearms. The third was Red Robin, Catwoman advised using clever strategy if she was going to get the upper hand on this one. Finally, there was the current Robin, the son of Batman and Talia Al Ghul, the youngest of the boys who was trained by assassins before Batman took him in.

She took the Ladybug earrings with her, seeing as they were more versatile for the occasion. In addition to the earrings, she wore the Longg’s choker around her neck. Master Fu had often cautioned against using fusions, considering how draining they were on her body. Her new mentor advised her to use every tool she could in her arsenal, because they certainly would. On most nights she noticed a small, hooded figure passing through her neighbourhood from time to time. She decided to see which of these boys would be her first opponent.

While she was standing on that rooftop, she heard a few footsteps behind her. It was raining but through the mist and the rain she could see a small, shadowy figure watching her closely. It made sense, she was dressed in bright colours and standing on a rooftop in the pouring rain. She practically had a sign on her head that said “come and get me”, which in some way was part of her plan. The question was, whether or not her first opponent would take the bait. “I know you’re there little one, so are you going to stay there or come over and say hello?” she asked, Marinette tried to sound cheerful but she ended up sounding silly instead. She tried to hide the burning embarrassment she felt at how silly that sounded. The boy could probably sense it too, because she turned around and saw him narrowing his eyes at her suspiciously.

He leapt from his perch and landed behind her with a thud and splatter of rain water. He was no taller than Marinette and he wore a red and green outfit, with a black hooded cape and a green domino mask. The red and green outfit had a golden yellow “R” on his chest, and she also noticed a sword that was sheathed at his side. Marinette had to suspect this boy was the youngest out of the boys, Robin. The two of them stood in silence for a long moment, she figured that someone who was formerly trained by assassins would be a little more hostile. Then again, he was probably expecting someone else entirely. “Aren’t you a little young to be out patrolling by yourself, little one?” she asked, trying to make some kind of conversation with the boy. She wasn’t in any position to say anything about this, considering she had been protecting Paris since she was 13.

“What’s it to you?” He scoffed, “we’re looking for someone named Lady Noire, and you clearly wanted to attract someone’s attention by standing on a rooftop in that costume”.

“Robin, can you not be a brat for like, five minutes?” Red Robin groaned into his comm, but Damian didn’t listen.

“You can either state your business or stop wasting my time” he snapped, as Marinette chuckled.

“So, you’re planning on challenging Lady Noire. Tell me, what do you really know about her?” she asked him.

“Only that father and that woman have taken an interest in her, and I intend to prove to both of them that she is nothing special.” he growled, “so unless you know something about her, stay out of my way”.

“You seem certain, for someone who has never once faced her” she said with a smile.

“I was trained by the best, I will not lose to someone who is little more than a foundling.” he was reaching for his sword at that moment. Red Robin and Nightwing rolled their eyes at that comment as they listened in. They knew they had all bested their youngest brother at some point or other, despite being “foundlings”.

“It would have been easy too just to hide from you and your brothers, but I’m going to enjoy taking you down a peg.” She braced herself for her first fight of the challenge. She really could have, but sadly she had very little patience for people who thought they were better than everyone else.

“I won’t lose to you Lady Noire, or whoever you are”, he growled as he drew his sword and pointed it at her.

“Tikki, Longg, unify!” she called out, and a flash of red and gold light stunned Robin for a moment. The red and black bodysuit now had gold accents and a symbol on her chest. The symbol was a lighting bolt, a wave and a gust of wind all swirling together.

“What did you do?!” Red Robin yelled into his comm, “I swear if she kills us all just because you couldn’t control yourself…”

Robin looked up to see that she had a yo-yo in one hand and the other reached behind her to draw a sword.

“And by the way, it’s Dragon Bug to you”, she swung her yo-yo with one hand and Robin ducked to dodge it. After dodging it, he charged at Dragon Bug, katana in hand. She blocked his attack with her sword before kicking him back with her foot. Dragon Bug pulled back her yo-yo and charged at him with her sword, when he blocked her, he spun around and kicked her legs out from under her. As Dragon Bug fell to the floor, she raised her sword and yelled “Water Dragon!”. There was more than enough to create a barrier that pushed Robin back before he could strike again. Robin was knocked back against the wall, and she took out her yo-yo to make an escape to the streets below.

This Lady Noire, Dragon Bug, whoever she was, had insulted his honor. To him, that just simply would not stand. His father said that he wanted her alive, but he could barely get a scratch on her. He got up quickly and used his grappling hook to swing after her. She was waiting for him, with her hair blowing in the wind, and a smile that Damian wanted to wipe off her face. He charged at her once more, this time sliding on the floor at the last moment and hoping to take a swipe at her leg. Once again, she managed to turn and block his katana. The pair of them traded blow after blow after blow, but he could only land a few scratches on her. Marinette could use Lightning Dragon and shock the boy, to bring this to a swift end. However, with all the water that was around them, she might end up killing the boy instead. Before she could try anything else with that sword, he blocked it and sent it flying off to the side. Marinette watched as her sword flew out of her hands before clattering on the ground next to them.

Marinette had to admit that this kid was good and that the fusion was starting to drain her a little. She had to act fast as she dodged another incoming strike. She leapt backwards to dodge it but the boy took out a grappling hook, he gave it a few good spins before flinging it forward and catching her foot. He pulled the wire taut and sent her crashing to the ground, hard. “You may have your tricks, Dragon Bug, but I have skill, I have training, and now I have defeated you.” he called out as he tugged at the wire, pulling her towards him.

“That may be true, but there’s something you should know…” she groaned as she propped herself up on her elbows, he stopped for a moment as he waited for her to tell him exactly what that was. Marinette reached for her yo-yo, she needed to finish this and safe her strength, “…you’re not the only one who’s had training.” she told him. Dragon Bug quickly spun her yo-yo and swung it at Robin, this time wrapping the wire around him and pulling the string tight. He tried to free himself using his katana, while Dragon Bug unwrapped the wire around her foot. As she stood up she said, “another one of my ‘magic tricks’” as she ran to retrieve her own sword. She sheathed the sword and looked back to find a hog-tied Robin, desperately trying to cut the cord and free himself. She wanted to enjoy this moment for just a little longer, there was always something so satisfying in moments like these. She took a moment to send a quick message to Catwoman:

“Dragon Bug: 1, Robin: 0” before sending her a selfie, with Robin tied up in the background.

She glanced back at Robin who was now just scowling at her. “You fought valiantly little one, but sadly you are not my only opponent” she told him as she unwound the string around him. When she had her yo-yo back, she flung it towards a street lamp and swung forward, lifting her up off the ground. There was one thing Damian was certain of, there was no way his brothers were going to let him live this down. With a good tug of her yo-yo, freed Damian, spinning him around in the process.

Meanwhile, Jason and Roy were on a road trip back to Gotham, the two of them had just taken care of a Drug Lord in Starling City. Jason’s phone buzzed with some news from Dick, something about how they had all been embroiled in a bet to take down Selina’s new protégé. If any of them win, she has to join the Bat family, and if they all lose then she keeps working with Selina. He could not bring himself to care, it was 50/50 on whether or not this girl was tolerable or if she was going to annoy him like the rest. Roy glanced over at him before turning his attention back to the road, “you look like you’re desperately searching for a fuck to give” he commented.

“Just some dumb bet Bruce made,” Jason shut off his phone before reclining back in his chair.

“That’s not like Bruce, usually making dumb bets was something you guys did” Roy wracked his brain trying to imagine the stoic and serious Batman making a dumb bet.

“Something about Catwoman and her little sidekick.” he drawled, “If Dick, Me, Replacement or Demon Spawn take her down, she becomes Batman’s little sidekick. Like he doesn’t have enough of those running around”.

“Ah, I’m guessing you don’t want to fight her when we make it back to Gotham City?” Roy asked, “wouldn’t it be hilarious if you taught her how to win against your brothers?”

Jason gave a half-hearted chuckle, moments later his phone buzzed with more messages. He was really looking forward to this little power nap, but he checked to make sure no one desperately needed his help.

He sees the picture that she took with Damian tied up in the background. Babs, Steph and Cass had watched the whole thing, with popcorn. While Tim had made that photo the new wallpaper on the Belfry’s computer.

“Well, says here she literally wiped the floor with Demon Spawn, before swinging away on a yo-yo.” he said and they both laughed “now I’m just mad I won’t get to buy the girl a few drinks”.

“I mean either way, I’m sure you’ll get your chance if you’re both in Gotham City. I’m just sad that I’ll have to be your third wheel.” Roy said wistfully.

“Roy, I had to listen to you and Kory in the next room,” Jason recalled, “you have no room to complain about third wheeling.”

“Awh was little Jaybird jealous?” Roy joked.

“Hey you’re the one who assumed that we banged in the first place,” he said “all I said was I was with her, and you decided to interpret that however you wanted”.

“Well, it doesn’t matter anyway because she ran off to Miami to work through some things, and we’re just over here thinking about the good old days,” Roy said. The two of them continued to drive in silence and Jason leaned back, trying to get some sleep before facing whatever chaos was waiting to greet them in Gotham City.

Tim has researched all he could on this mysterious Lady Noire, yet there are several reported sightings of different vigilantes all with the same height and build. Lady Noire, Ladybug, Dragon bug. Tim compiled all known sightings onto his corkboard to get a clear picture of who this person is.

The fight between Dragon Bug and Damian provided him with crucial information on how he could counter Dragon Bug. Tim then donned his Red Robin costume and began patrol of Gotham City. Gliding across he spotted an usual sight, a costumed person standing on a rooftop. It had to be the one Batman told him about, the person he was to fight because of the bet.

Tim landed on a nearby rooftop to reconfirm the target. "Same height and build, but this costume is different." Tim sighed, he had noticed that each costume had its own power and abilities, and made detailed notes on each. Codename: Polka-dot had the power to summon an unknown household object. Codename: Catwoman II used an indestructible staff and the power of disintegration, Codename: Drake used a sword and came with the power of hydrokinesis.

However, he had no intel regarding this new costume. He decided to press his luck and use stealth to take her down. He leaped off the roof and began gliding towards her with a kick.

To his surprise, his target shrank at the last second, he glided through and smashed into a skylight, landing inside an abandoned building.

Multimouse followed suit and jumped in through the broken skylight. Landing right at the centre of the room, she simply stood there arms akimbo looking at him. Red Robin threw a smoke bomb, grappling to the rafters. Multimouse did not pursue, no sense of panic she simply walked to a wooden crate and sat on it.

Red Robin, took the opportunity to launch himself off and glided towards Multimouse with a kick. He was shocked to see her suddenly turn around as if she knew he was there the entire time, with perfect timing she grabbed and judo flipped Red Robin through the wooden crate. Wiping her hands in a dramatic manner, Multimouse walked to the centre of the room and crossed her arms. Red Robin crushed a smoke bomb with his hand, obscuring the area and diving towards an underground vent.

He began to wonder how she was able to counter him so effectively. "The power of foresight? 360 degrees x-ray vision? No it can't be." Red Robin thought to himself. While crawling in the vents to a position behind Multimouse, he berated himself for pressing his luck without any information on Multimouse. He peeked his head out of the vent, Multimouse had not moved, she continued to stare at Red Robin's previous location. Taking another chance, Red Robin jumped out of the underground vent ready for a takedown.

Again as if she was a clairvoyant she countered him perfectly, spinning on the spot and delivering a crushing kick to Red Robin’s midsection. Sending him flying across the room, he took out his staff and slowly got up, using the staff as if it was a cane. He stood on shaky legs, in disbelief.

He then begins to notice something unusual hanging on the hem of his cape. His eyes widen as he takes a closer look. A miniature clone of Multimouse was hanging on, his eyes snapped up to the rafters and then the vents. There were several miniature clones all over the building, all about the size of a small insect.

Red Robin's jaw dropped as he had this epiphany. Seeing her cue, Multimouse shrank down and spawned a horde of miniature clones. Millions of clones rush towards Red Robin, he begins swinging his staff, stomping on any clones on the ground, flailing his arms like a madman. The horde bellows a collective “Surrender,” Red Robins defiantly continues to fight.

Soon the swarm begins to cover Red Robin all the way up to his neck, his body unable to move. The Multimouse arms pulls off the cowl and begins pulling all of Red Robin’s hair. Red Robin, facing the agony of Multimouse waxing his head. “Ok, ok I give up.” he cried. As he finished his plea, the swarm dissipated and reforms to the singular human sized Multimouse. Red Robin is then left kneeling and staring at the strands of his own hair left on the floor.

Multimouse, seizing the opportunity to obtain a trophy of her efforts, takes a selfie with a poor, disheveled Red Robin in the background.

Marinette was really starting to feel the effects of using different Miraculous for two nights straight. Dragon Bug was draining enough, but she had to use Multimouse to take on Red Robin. That left Nightwing and The Red Hood, and she was starting to wonder what was the point of this game. She felt like she was just fighting to win, fighting so that the person who took care of her when she first arrived in Gotham could prove a point. If she won, then she would stay under Catwoman’s protection, and the Miraculous would be protected with her. Though she was lucky that the Miraculous themselves didn’t look valuable enough to pique her interest. If she lost to one of them, she would be under Batman’s protection instead. She would become a part of the group of vigilantes who operate in the city, and she didn’t know how she felt about that either. How would she feel about seemingly being the only magic user among them? How would he feel about her being a magic user? She hadn’t even met the guy, all she knew was that he took an interest in her dealings with Catwoman. Maybe she would encounter the Red Hood and he would make the choice for her by putting her out of her misery. She decided to settle this fight once and for all as Ladybug, maybe then someone would give her some answers.

She got a text message from Catwoman, telling her to meet her on a rooftop that had gargoyles glaring down at the streets below. Maybe she had information on where her next fight would be, she didn’t say. By the time she got there, she saw two people eating fast food next to the gargoyles. The first was a redhead in red armor, and the second was…

“Get your own brooding spot, this one’s taken!” He yelled. Marinette looked up to see the other guy had a red domino mask, and in addition to being dressed in Kevlar and leather, had a red bat symbol on his chest.

Marinette spun her yo-yo, getting ready for a fight. The redhead continued eating, while his dark-haired companion gave her a swift once over.

“So, you’re the girl who took down Robin and Red Robin?” he asked, as if struggling to believe it.

“And you are?” she asked, when he put on the red helmet that was in his hand, it suddenly became clear.

“So, looking for me?” he asked, “Or are you on your way to fight the original boy wonder?”

“Honestly, I’ll take my chances with you.” Marinette said as she launched her yo-yo at his companion and wrapped the cord around him.

“Wait, wait, wait why me?” the redhead cried, then she threw him and sent him crashing into the Red Hood. The pair of them slammed into a nearby wall before she released the redhead. She unwound the cord and was getting ready to strike again.

Underneath the sprawled out pile of bodies, Red Hood grunted “Arsenal, get your ass off of my face or else…” Arsenal got up before he could finish his threat and they both stood up.

“So who checked ‘Fights with Toys’ off their bingo card?” Arsenal joked.

“Is that the best you can do?” Red Hood taunted. He came at her with a knife in hand, when she leapt in the air and wrapped her yo-yo cord around his arm. She launched herself at him, landing an aerial kick on his helmet. Red Hood grabbed her by the foot and flipped her over, sending her crashing to the ground.

“If you came here to fight me that’s one thing, not many people get to say they took on someone with a yo-yo and lived, unless you’re Toyman.” he said, as he lifted her up off the ground. “If you think this is what it takes to face Nightwing, then you have no idea who you’re dealing with.”

Ladybug took a few steps back after he helped her get to her feet, “so are you going to fight me instead?”

“Pixie, take it from me, it’s really not all it’s cracked up to be. As fun as it’s been watching you kick my brother’s asses, they are nothing compared to Nightwing.” he explained as he took off his helmet and set it down next to him.

“What do you know about Nightwing?” she asked, still understandably guarded about the situation.

“Oh what don’t I know, he’s basically Batman’s heir.” he told her “I’m just one of the spares, and that’s on a good day when I managed to not die.”

Dick had made it clear days ago that he wasn’t going to fight her, he already put his foot down at how silly this whole thing was. Jason, however, decided to have a little fun. “Honestly, you might as well just walk right into the batcave and challenge Batman yourself.” he told her, “I mean you won’t die, that’s kinda his whole deal, but you’ll be eating through a straw for the rest of your life.”

Jason, enjoying the anxiety bubble in the young woman, and he decided to crank it up to eleven.

“Nightwing is equal if not better than Batman in every way, he once took up the mantle of Batman when he was injured. Not only that, he broke Bane’s back. He lifted a 7ft tall 500lb big guy, snapped his spine over his knee as if it was nothing.” Jason moves his arms, mimicking the motion of breaking something over his knee. Ladybug began to sweat even more, struggling to imagine the powerhouse of a man to even accomplish such a feat.

Jason’s grin widens, “not only that, he fought a giant mutated bat the size of a man. He wrestled Man-Bat, putting him in a full nelson and smashing its face into solid concrete” Ladybug cringes at the thought of feeling the full force of having your face slammed into concrete. Jason gets ready for the coup de grace. “In fact, when he was 10 years old, he watched his parents get murdered by mobster Tony Zucco in front of his own eyes. After being taken under Batman’s wing, he went out for revenge. He chased after Tony for hours and cornered him in Crime Alley.

Tony died that night when Nightwent went after him, the official cause was a heart attack.”

Jason stops talking to look around him, as if he was paranoid and there were eyes all around him. He walks up to Ladybug and whispers to her ear “but between you and me, it wasn’t.”

He turns to Roy, “but if she’s gonna try and take him on after all that, then we might as well pull up some chairs and watch.” he said, giving Roy a knowing look.

“Oh yeah, I mean he’s no match for a cute girl and her yo-yo.” Roy joked.

“Come on, he’s probably waiting on top of the Iceberg Lounge, and he doesn’t like to be kept waiting” he declared, Ladybug followed as the three of them made their way to the Iceberg Lounge. She felt her legs shaking, but it’s fine, she would at least live to tell the tale...right?

Nightwing stood on the roof of the Iceberg Lounge, carefully watching the whereabouts of the people going in and out of the area. He heard footsteps and looked up to see three figures landing on the rooftop in front of him. He looked up to see Red Hood, Arsenal and a short girl who looked to be in her late teens, maybe early 20s. He looked between them, then back at the girl who was spinning a red yo-yo with black polka dots.

Nightwing waved to them, figuring she would be the short girl mentioned in the bet between Batman and Catwoman. As he noticed the three, the short girl visibly frightened as he walked towards them.

Nightwing sighed “what did you tell her?” he asked, he had better things to than get involved in Batman’s dumb little bet. The outcome would have been someone joining the Bat family by force, even he had put his foot down by that point.

“I mean, nothing that wasn’t true.” Red Hood told him, “she might as well know who she’s dealing with.”

“Right, and you probably told her you are just a soft teddy bear compared to me.” Nightwing remarked sarcastically, “was it to keep her from beating the stuffing out of you?”. At that point Ladybug was visibly confused, so Nightwing looked over at her “so how did you get dragged into this? Got sick of having to share a litter box?”

Ladybug eyes Nightwing cautiously, thinking his joking mannerisms are an elaborate ruse to lower her guard. “What, don’t tell my Catwoman’s got your tongue?” Nightwing jokes with a large grin. Ladybug begins to slowly walk back, confused at how expectations did not match reality.

Nightwing points his thumb at Ladybug and talks to Red Hood, “Alright what did you tell her about me?” Red Hood raises his arms innocently “Like I said, nothing that wasn’t true.”

Nightwing raises his eyebrow at Red Hood and crosses his arms. “Alright I told her how you took down Bane and Man-Bat by yourself” Red Hood admits. “And?” Nightwing begins tapping his foot. “I may have, insinuated that you may or may not have had something to do with Tony Zucco's heart attack”

Nightwing facepalms, “well so much for first impressions, let's start over shall we?”

Nightwing reaches his hand out to Ladybug, “Name’s Richard but everyone calls me Dick”

Marinette tentatively reaches out to shake his hand, “I know you aren’t enthusiastic about this bet, neither am I. I don’t want to knock your spots off, so how about I lie on the ground, you take a picture for Catwoman and you fly off into the sunset”

“Where would I go?” she asked,

“She could come with us.” Red Hood suggested, “nothing would annoy Batman more.”

“Right, and next she’ll start asking me if I actually hypnotize people with my ass.” Nightwing said as he raised an eyebrow at him. “Think Catwoman would let you take her?”

“We already asked, someone has to look after this pipsqueak while she’s doing what she does best, alone”, Red Hood explained.

Ladybug felt herself calming down a lot more at that moment. She came to this city not really knowing anyone, feeling like there was no one else looking out for her. Now, for the first time in a long time, she felt like she was going to be in good hands.

Bonus 1:

Roy: So, should we call ourselves “Red Arse Bug” or “Lady Red Arse”?

Jason: Do you want me to throw you off this roof?

Bonus 2:

Ladybug: So you all had to wear red, yellow and green?

Red Hood: Yup.

Ladybug: What was it like?

Red Hood: I did my time in the pixie boots, Pixie. Doesn’t mean I like to talk about it.

#jasonettejuly2021 #jasonette #maribat

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